Dinosaur emojis

T-Rex (🦖) and Sauropod (🦕), collectively the dinosaur emojis, are two emojis depicting dinosaurs that are part of the Unicode Standard, originally added in Unicode 10.0 in June 2017.

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

The T-Rex emoji (left) and Sauropod emoji (right), as depicted in Noto Emoji.

In addition to their literal depictions, the emojis have been used to note the perceived obsolescence of an idea. The dinosaur emojis have also been used to represent both transgender and gender-critical feminist groups^[a] on the Internet.

History and design

See also: Emoji § History

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]

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.^[6] 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".^[7]

Usage

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]

Transgender representation

Dinosaur emojis have been used by both transgender and gender-critical feminist communities^[a] on the internet to represent their respective groups.^[8][9] In an interview on WBUR, paleontologist Riley Black, who is a transgender woman, speculated that the transgender community's use of dinosaur symbols may reflect what Black described as their attraction to "aspect[s] of falling into more than one category at once and...transformation through time". The podcast also suggests that gender-critical feminist groups may have began using the emojis as a method to signal their beliefs to others in their community, following a comment by David Lammy describing gender-critical feminists as "dinosaurs" for their ideas.^[9]

Encoding

Character information

Preview	🦖		🦕
Unicode name	T-REX		SAUROPOD
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	129430	U+1F996	129429	U+1F995
UTF-8	240 159 166 150	F0 9F A6 96	240 159 166 149	F0 9F A6 95
UTF-16	55358 56726	D83E DD96	55358 56725	D83E DD95
GB 18030	149 48 218 52	95 30 DA 34	149 48 218 51	95 30 DA 33
Numeric character reference	🦖	🦖	🦕	🦕

See also

• Gaysper

Notes

1. The community is also known under the name trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs.