The 'sheepish' reason New Zealand appears oversized on new map

Many Kiwis have become used to New Zealand being left off world maps in recent years.

In fact it's become so common it even prompted a Tourism New Zealand campaign in 2018 featuring comedian Rhys Darby and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern making light of the issue.

But a new map shared online has not only made sure New Zealand is located firmly in its right place, it's made the country even bigger than usual.

The map shows the world "in proportion to the population of sheep".

The result is countries like New Zealand and Wales are much larger than normal, while those like the United States appear far smaller.

The exact calculations used by the map's creator are unclear but most commentators online agree it shows "sheep per area not sheep per person" of each country.

The 'sheepish' reason New Zealand appears oversized on new map
Photo credit: Reddit

The map was shared to Reddit on Sunday and has sparked a torrent of comments.

"Wow, no one can say New Zealand was forgotten this time," wrote one person.

"Ewe Zealand," wrote another.

Many people questioned why Australia appeared largely unchanged, with some speculating that the original poster was Australian and "used it as the baseline (1:1)" or that simply "the proportion of sheep to worldwide sheep and land to total land are almost equal for Australia". Others, though, were convinced the country was actually "slightly more chonky" and had "gone a bit hard on the Tim Tams".