WWF capitalizes on death of Twitter bird logo to highlight real species facing extinction

In the US and Canada alone, 3 billion birds have been lost since the 1970s

The conservation organisation World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has capitalised on the death of Twitter’s iconic bird logo to highlight the threats to real species.

Birds around the world are facing a number of worsening threats – from the climate crisis and habitat loss to the illegal wildlife trade and commercial fishing industry. In the US and Canada alone, 3 billion birds have been lost since the 1970s.

“Twitter’s iconic bird isn’t the only one disappearing. Today, one in eight bird species are at risk of extinction. But we can save them and their habitats – benefiting people and nature across the globe. RT to spread the word!” WWF’s official account posted on Monday.

The WWF account has 3.8 million followers and the tweet had been viewed more than 300,000 times by Monday afternoon.

It came hours after Twitter rebranded to X as part of Elon Musk’s plan to create an “everything app”.

The tech billionaire, who took over the platform last October, dropped the famous blue bird with the new logo after crowdsourcing ideas from users over the weekend.

He reportedly informed employees by email that Twitter would become X, as well as redirected the domain X.com to Twitter.com.

Linda Yaccarino, who became Twitter’s chief executive last month, confirmed the switch in a series of tweets late on Sunday.

“It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression,” she wrote.

“Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”

Ms Yaccarino described the app as the “future state of unlimited interactivity”, incorporating audio, video, messaging, payments and banking.

“There’s absolutely no limit to this transformation,” she added. “X will be the platform that can deliver, well... everything.”