Dinosaur emojis

The T-Rex emoji (left) and Sauropod emoji (right), as depicted in the Fluent Design System

Following interest expressed online for the addition of a dinosaur emoji to Unicode, multiple proposals for its creation were submitted to the Unicode Consortium in 2016, each differing on the number, style, anatomical structures, and species of dinosaur depicted. The proposals and their subsequent discussion noted that a dinosaur emoji would have both a high expected usage rate and multiple construable meanings.^[1][2]

Dinosaur emojis were released in Unicode 10.0, as part of Emoji 5.0, on 20 June 2017.^[3] The release features full-body depictions of a Tyrannosaurus rex, as a green dinosaur standing on its hind legs,^[4] and a sauropod, as a blue, grey, or green dinosaur standing on all four legs.^[5]

While the Unicode Consortium provides a standard codepoint for each dinosaur, individual vendors have designed them with significant aesthetic differences.

The T-Rex emoji (🦖) shows the most variation in color and posture:

• Apple and Google depict the dinosaur as green.
• Samsung's version is notably red or orange-toned.
• Twitter (X) and Microsoft utilize a brown or tan color scheme.
• Facebook's implementation is unique for showing only the head of the dinosaur rather than a full-body depiction.^[6]

The Sauropod emoji (🦕) varies primarily in its anatomical inspiration. While it is broadly categorized as a "sauropod," Apple's design closely resembles a Brachiosaurus with its characteristic high-shouldered stance, whereas other versions, such as WhatsApp's, more closely resemble a diplodocid with a horizontal neck posture.^[7]

Following the announcement and release of the dinosaur emojis, several paleontologists and science communicators criticized the anatomical accuracy of the designs, particularly those from Apple. Paleontologist Riley Black and others noted that the Tyrannosaurus emoji originally featured upright posturing and dragging tails, a depiction considered scientifically obsolete since the dinosaur renaissance of the 1970s.^[8]

Additional criticism focused on the lack of feathers on the theropod designs. While the Unicode Consortium's original proposal suggested a "wide range of dinosaur emoji" to satisfy both public and scientific demands, the final versions were largely based on mid-20th-century pop culture depictions.^[9] Despite these critiques, the sauropod emoji was praised for using the taxonomically inclusive term "sauropod" rather than "Brontosaurus," avoiding the historical naming controversy associated with that genus.^[9]

The Unicode Consortium was criticized during the emoji design process because of its lack of scientific consideration; Keith Winstein, a computer scientist at Stanford University, noted the lack of paleontologist involvement during the Unicode Consortium's design of the Standard.^[10] Apple faced similar criticisms following its implementation of Unicode 10.0, with Thomas Carr of Carthage College noting that Apple's design of the T-Rex emoji lacked "basic anatomical accuracy".^[11]

The dinosaur emojis can be used literally to represent a Tyrannosaurus and a sauropod. According to Emojipedia, both dinosaur emoji are also used to express the idea of being "old-fashioned or out-of-touch with modern sentiments".^[4][5] An original proposal for the dinosaur emoji from 2016 by Dominik Schwartz suggested that it could also be used to represent the ideas of large size, obsolescence, or extinction.^[2]

Beyond literal representations of prehistoric life, the dinosaur emojis have developed several metaphorical meanings in internet culture.

Both characters are categorized as "Symbol, Other" (So) in the Unicode General Category, with a bidirectional class of "Other Neutral" (ON), meaning they follow the overall text direction without inheriting strong directional properties.^[14]

• Gaysper