# Monday Connect: Explore the Tree of Life with LifeMap

**URL:** https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/monday-connect-explore-the-tree-of-life-with-lifemap/9147
**Category:** The Plaza
**Tags:** monday-connect
**Created:** [July 6, 2026, 7:53am UTC](https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/monday-connect-explore-the-tree-of-life-with-lifemap/9147 "2026-07-06T07:53:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![cogdog](https://connect.oeglobal.org/user_avatar/connect.oeglobal.org/cogdog/32/2_2.png) [@cogdog](https://connect.oeglobal.org/u/cogdog)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2026, 7:53am UTC](https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/monday-connect-explore-the-tree-of-life-with-lifemap/9147/1 "2026-07-06T07:53:21Z")

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All living things are connected, see this in one interactive exploration of the [Tree of Life](https://lifemap.cnrs.fr/), a map of more than two billion species that live on this one planet.

[![Life Map entry screen](https://connect.oeglobal.org/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e2218a73a77ecdb3900128f24aec6bee6ef60696.jpeg)](https://lifemap.cnrs.fr/tree?efficiency-mode=false)

> Lifemap is an interactive tool to explore the tree of life. The concept used in Lifemap is similar to the one used in cartography with tools like Google Maps© or OpenStreetMap: exploring is done by zooming and panning. The current tree contains 2 305 164 species: 13 780 Archaea, 594 984 Bacteria and 1 696 400 Eukaryotes. It is based on the taxonomy published by the NCBI (public domain) and updated regularly.
> 
> All the nodes in the tree are clickable. It displays information (description and picture) concerning the taxa (retrieved from the Wikipedia page, Lifemap by [Damien de Vienne](https://lbbe.univ-lyon1.fr/fr/annuaires-des-membres/de-vienne-damien)/ CNRS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

There are many ways you can explore this map, by zooming in from the full map down to find a particular species of bacteria, plant, or roam to find even somewhere, in there, an curious one such as [human beings](https://lifemap.cnrs.fr/tree?tool=search&tid=9605).

Or if you know a particular genus, like one of my favorite cacti that grows in my yard, [_Escobaria_, you can search and find it in the map](https://lifemap.cnrs.fr/tree?efficiency-mode=false&tid=130118).

 ![The Genus Escobaria and connected species, on left is a wikipedia photo of the pink flower on this cacti](https://connect.oeglobal.org/uploads/default/original/2X/1/187c0a35cfa9d5779e7c746d979e7da0d79abc28.jpeg).

_Then_ watch what happens when you click [Full Ancestry](https://lifemap.cnrs.fr/tree?efficiency-mode=false&tid=130118&ancestor=130118,0&tool=ancestor).

Explore the LifeMap and share something interesting that you discover.

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### Author: ![agrey](https://connect.oeglobal.org/user_avatar/connect.oeglobal.org/agrey/32/3270_2.png) [@agrey](https://connect.oeglobal.org/u/agrey)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/monday-connect-explore-the-tree-of-life-with-lifemap/9147/2 "2026-07-06T21:39:29Z")

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This reminds me of an old Encarta CD-ROM series that I had when I was growing up. It had a map that was really similar to this.

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### Author: ![cogdog](https://connect.oeglobal.org/user_avatar/connect.oeglobal.org/cogdog/32/2_2.png) [@cogdog](https://connect.oeglobal.org/u/cogdog)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://connect.oeglobal.org/t/monday-connect-explore-the-tree-of-life-with-lifemap/9147/3 "2026-07-06T22:29:40Z")

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Encarta! CD-ROM! Oh the flashbacks. Okay I grew up with just World Book Encyclopedia as my reference),

This LifeMap is all made from public domain data at the [National Center for Biotechnology Information](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/).