About the Wild World Map

The Wild World Map was created by New Zealand Artist & Cartographer, Anton Thomas. It took him three years to draw with coloured pencils and pen, all on a single original and it includes 1,642 wild animals roaming the Earth’s lands and waters.

In his accompanying ‘Guide’ to the map, Anton gives some interesting background…

“Words cannot capture how incredible Earth is. It is a world teeming with life, spectacularly beautiful. How lucky we are to call it home. And amidst its millions of species, one has become transformative - often destructive - force of nature itself: Homo sapiens.

Many world maps tell the geographical story; a planet colour-coded into nations and covered in cities and roads. These layers are important, but they’re not the only way to envision our world. After all, its foundational layer is nature - mountains, deserts, forests, ice caps, oceans. Millions of species wander this planet’s habitats, and we are but one.

This is a world map of nature, rather than nations. Wild World celebrates Earth’s geography and wildlife, from the Andes to the Congo rainforest, Antarctica to the Australian deserts.”

Wild World: The Basics

“Before anything I needed a projection…I found a great compromise: the Natural Earth projection. I love its beautiful , recognisably shaped continents, while the polar exaggeration is very limited. It was the balance I needed.

As a Kiwi I was tempted by a Pacific-centred map. But I much prefer the aesthetic balance of Europe/Africa-centred maps. It isn’t centred on O° longitude however (the Greenwich meridian), as world maps often are. Instead I shifted the centre to 11° east, pushing the map’s edges to 169° west. This line runs through the Bering Strait, across the open Pacific, and touches no land other than Antarctica and a few Alaskan islands. It’s the cleanest cut possible.

Wild World is not only a compendium of wildlife, it’s a very detailed physical world map. A high standard of accuracy was crucial.”

Choosing the Animals

“I gravitate toward beautiful, unique and iconic animals. But I settled on three criteria that came to shape the philosophy of the map. All animals in Wild World are (1) wild, (2) native, and (3) extant - not extinct.

Wild and native animals evoke natural biomes only— pristine habitats without domesticated or introduced species. Meanwhile, extant animals set the map in the present day. This is crucial— Wild World is a place that still exists; a world that can still be cherished and protected. It may seem an idealistic view of Earth, but it shows nothing that isn’t here now. Every species, every habitat, is still with us. I want this map to inspire hope, to show just how wild the world still is, how much there is left to preserve.”

Landscapes

“I took special interest in landscapes. A cartrographer’s style is often shaped in the mountains, and with Wild World spanning the globe, it was a great creative opportunity. I began using actual peaks to create a mountain range, encouraging a richer feeling of place. Whether it’s Everest crowning the Himalayas, Kilimanjaro towering over East Africa, the volcanic plugs of Bora Bora, or Mt Shasta beyond California redwoods, the map features hundreds of recognisable mountains drawn from photographs.

It’s not just mountains, though. I love embedding iconic landscape features, which breathe life into the map and channel the unique essence of place. See if you can spot Utah’s Delicate Arch, Venezuela’s Angel Falls, the South China karst, and the white travertine terraces of Pamukkale in Turkiye.”