Interactive Tree of Life
Shares rank 14 of 31 interactive visualizations by recommenders
People recommend it for learning how animal species relate and for browsing unfamiliar species. Critics point to a crude label on a human relative and hover labels that don't match their images.
People recommend it for learning how animal species relate and for browsing unfamiliar species. Critics point to a crude label on a human relative and hover labels that don't match their images.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Learn species relationships by browsing
“Really nice way to learn about the relationships in the animal tree.”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Interactive Tree of Life” “Fun to browse and learn about species I didn't know exist”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Interactive Tree of Life”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
No easy way to go up taxonomy
“One thing I am missing is an easy „go up” a taxonomy group.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Interactive Tree of Life” Offensive label on human relative
“I noticed that a sibling of human is "cumshot man."”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Interactive Tree of Life”
Other interactive visualizations people recommend
The four most recommended other interactive visualizations, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ciechanow.ski | 33 | 1 | 97% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Size of Life | 30 | 4 | 88% | 2 | — | — |
| PGSimCity | 27 | 3 | 90% | 1 | — | — |
| Ithihāsas | 18 | 3 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Interactive Tree of LifeThis page | 7 | 1 | 88% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Really nice way to learn about the relationships in the animal tree.”
“I noticed that a sibling of human is "cumshot man."”
“One thing I am missing is an easy „go up” a taxonomy group.”
“it packs a ton of info, but is easy to use and understand”
“Some of the mouse-overs don't seem to match, hovering over 'viruses' shows a raccoon”
“Fun to browse and learn about species I didn't know exist”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.