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- The Tree of Life poster project has expanded from four new charts to five. Matt Baker originally planned four charts but has added separate bird and mammal charts alongside the three previously planned subjects: plants and fungi, invertebrates, and fish, amphibians, and reptiles.
- The Kickstarter stretch goal has been reached, increasing the rewards for every backer. Supporters who selected one poster will receive two at no extra charge; those who selected two will receive three; and those who ordered the complete set will receive all five charts.
- The Kickstarter campaign has a stated August 31 deadline. Backers can still preorder after the campaign closes, but at a slightly higher price. Baker directs interested buyers to usefulcharts.com/kickstarter or the link in the video's description or pinned comment.
- The five-chart project is intended to be ready for the holidays. Baker's goal is to have all the charts designed, printed, and shipped in time for the holiday season.
- Baker is inviting viewers to participate in the development process. He plans to share progress as the charts are created so viewers can suggest additions, corrections, and other changes before the designs are finalized.
- The bird chart has progressed from its first draft to a second, hopefully final, draft. Following the previous video, Baker received numerous suggestions for additional birds and incorporated most of them, expanding the chart's coverage.
- Fan-contributed photographs have become part of the bird chart. Several images were submitted through iNaturalist, allowing community contributions to appear in the finished educational poster.
- The revised bird chart includes all 46 bird orders. Baker has also added the number of species represented by each order, giving readers a sense of the relative size and diversity of the major bird groups.
- The larger chart uses a more extensive color system. Purple identifies birds outside Neoaves, blue marks Neoaves, green represents the land-bird group Telluraves, yellow highlights the enormous order Passeriformes, orange distinguishes a major songbird section, and red makes the New World nine-primaried oscines stand out.
- Palaeognathae contains mostly flightless birds, but tinamous are an exception. Baker added tinamous because they can fly, although not particularly well. He also included two famous extinct groups: the moas of New Zealand and the elephant birds of Madagascar.
- The names Palaeognathae and Neognathae refer to “old jaws” and “new jaws.” Baker explains that Palaeognathae contrasts with Neognathae, which contains the other major groups of living birds represented on the chart.
- Neognathae divides into Galloanserae and Neoaves. Galloanserae contains the fowl, while Neoaves encompasses the vast majority of bird diversity and receives much of the chart's detailed treatment.
- The fowl section has been expanded with additional familiar birds. Baker added chachalacas, Old World quail, and several more ducks. He specifically mentioned making the duck additions for his animator, Seiaawish, because of the animator's love of ducks.
- The Neoaves section is divided into four major groups based on recent DNA research. Baker has revised the chart to reflect this arrangement, rather than relying solely on older classifications.
- The first Neoaves group now separates flamingos and grebes. Baker split the group into these two recognizable categories to make the relationships and organization clearer.
- The second Neoaves group now contains several additional orders. These additions are relatively small and less familiar to the general public, but Baker included them to make the chart more comprehensive at the order level. He also separated cuckoos and roadrunners in the chart's classification.
- Strisores, the nightbird group, received numerous additions. Within Elementaves, Baker expanded this section with several smaller, lesser-known orders, including groups containing unusual birds such as frogmouths.
- The shoebill and hoatzin were added following repeated viewer requests. Baker noted that the shoebill looks almost like an animatronic creature in videos despite being a real bird. He also highlighted the hoatzin as an unusual evolutionary outlier that has its own order.
- The puffin was added after Baker realized he had overlooked it. He expressed particular surprise at the omission because he was born and raised in Atlantic Canada, where puffins are familiar birds.
- Puffins and the extinct great auk belong to the family Alcidae. The great auk's resemblance to penguins helps explain the historical naming connection: Europeans used the name “penguin” for the great auk before the name became associated with the unrelated birds now known as penguins.
- The rail family has been added to the blue Neoaves section. Rails include coots, which can resemble ducks but are not actually ducks. Baker uses the example to emphasize that superficial physical similarities do not necessarily indicate close evolutionary relationships.
- Rails, cranes, shorebirds, and the hoatzin are grouped within the clade Gruae on the chart. Baker explains that the name means “crane-like,” reflecting the group's taxonomic grouping rather than suggesting that every member resembles a crane.
- Telluraves represents the land birds and is colored green. Baker describes a major division within this group between Australaves, associated with Australia and South America, and Afroaves, associated with Africa.
- Baker added several additional birds of prey to Afroaves. However, his largest set of changes within this broader group occurred in Coraciimorphae, where numerous previously omitted birds and orders were added.
- Toucans were added to the chart because of their relationship with woodpeckers. Baker acknowledged that he had previously forgotten to include toucans, which belong to the same broader order as woodpeckers.
- Coraciimorphae now includes more of its smaller, less familiar orders. One example is the group containing rollers, whose name is connected to the naming of this broader taxonomic grouping. The additions improve coverage beyond the most recognizable bird families.
- The bird chart has become more internationally representative, particularly for Australia. Baker identified this as one of the biggest changes in the revision. Earlier versions focused mainly on North America and, to a lesser extent, Europe; the new draft adds many more Australian birds.
- The Kickstarter now offers shipping to Australia. This change accompanies the expanded Australian coverage, making the project more accessible to potential supporters in that region.
- The kookaburra is one of the Australian birds added to the chart. Baker singled it out as a particularly famous representative of Australia's distinctive birdlife, while noting that many more Australian species appear elsewhere in the chart.
- Passeriformes is by far the largest bird order. The chart represents approximately 6,750 species in this order, according to Baker's count, which is more than the other 45 orders combined. Its extraordinary size justifies a separate yellow color on the chart.
- Most passeriformes are songbirds belonging to the Passeri suborder. A smaller proportion belong to Tyranni, which Baker also expanded in the revised chart.
- The name Tyranni shares a linguistic root with Tyrannosaurus. Baker explains that both names derive from the idea of a tyrant. Although tyrant flycatchers and related birds are not remotely comparable to a T. rex in size or danger, some fiercely defend their nests against much larger birds.
- The songbird classification has been expanded to better represent Australian species. Baker previously divided the songbirds into two main categories, Passerides and Corvides, but added another category containing many familiar Australian songbirds, including fairywrens, honeyeaters, wattlebirds, and noisy miners.
- Corvides also contains numerous Australian birds. Baker therefore expanded this group as well, rather than treating Australian songbirds as belonging to only one part of the classification.
- The Australian magpie is distinct from the familiar common magpie. The Australian species belongs to the Artamidae family, alongside currawongs and butcherbirds. Baker also added other Australian birds from separate families, including fantails, magpie-larks, and birds-of-paradise.
- Birds-of-paradise are included as birds, not confused with the similarly named plants. Baker explicitly clarifies the distinction while describing the additional Australian species.
- Baker expanded the genus Corvus because crows are his personal favorite birds. He used the additional space available in the chart to represent more crow species and clarify relationships among regional populations.
- The fish crow is a separate, smaller crow found in the southern United States. Baker distinguishes it from the American crow, which had already appeared in the previous version of the chart.
- The northwestern crow is no longer treated as a separate species in Baker's classification. The crow found in his part of the Pacific Northwest is instead represented as a subspecies of the American crow.
- Baker corrected his earlier explanation of European crow diversity. He had previously said that Europe had two main species, the carrion crow and hooded crow, but now says they are considered the same species in the classification he is using.
- Two major Asian crow species were added. These are the large-billed crow and the hooded crow, extending the chart's geographical coverage beyond the previously emphasized American and European species.
- The orange section focuses on Passerita, with three parvorders identified. Baker makes the division into Passerida, Sylviida, and Muscicapida clearer and expands all three with additional birds, particularly from Europe, Africa, and Asia.
- Sylviida now includes additional chiffchaffs, babblers, and bulbuls. These additions help represent Old World bird diversity more thoroughly.
- Muscicapida has been expanded with additional familiar birds. Baker specifically mentions nightingales and other additions to this group, continuing his effort to include species that might be overlooked in a chart previously weighted toward North American birds.
- Catbirds and waxwings were added to the relevant songbird groups. Catbirds are found in the New World, while waxwings occur in both the Old and New Worlds, helping the chart represent birds across different geographical regions.
- The African quelea was added to Passerida. Baker identifies it as the most numerous wild bird in the world in terms of sheer numbers, making it a particularly significant species to include.
- The New World nine-primaried oscines are now labeled Emberizoidea. Baker uses their official superfamily name and colors the group red to make it easier to distinguish from the surrounding branches.
- Emberizoidea is particularly important to North American bird diversity. The group includes many songbirds endemic to the New World, meaning they are naturally found there rather than having been introduced from elsewhere.
- The chart distinguishes native New World songbirds from introduced species. Baker contrasts the endemic birds in Emberizoidea with house sparrows and starlings, which were brought to North America during colonization.
- Darwin's finches were added because of their importance to evolutionary theory. Their role in the history of evolutionary thought makes them especially relevant to a chart about the diversity and relationships of birds.
- Darwin's finches are not actually members of the true finch family. Baker emphasizes this distinction because their common name can give readers the wrong impression about their taxonomic relationships.
- Baker is seeking final corrections before completing the bird chart. He specifically asks viewers to identify any remaining additions or changes that would improve the poster, especially spelling errors and other typos.
- The mammal chart is the next project in the series. Baker plans to share a video about its development soon, continuing the same process of building the chart and inviting audience feedback.