David Attenborough turns 100 today. The Earth needs him for another hundred years

He has no official website, vlog, or social media profiles, yet everyone has heard his name at least once. David Attenborough, hailed as the greatest ambassador for life on Earth, has changed the way we look at mosses, ants, and octopuses over more than 70 years of television work. Through stories about nature, he has shaped our mindset.

The man who discovered the Earth

David Attenborough’s 100th birthday has become an occasion for memories, wishes, and expressions of admiration arriving from all over the world. In a short voice message recorded for the BBC, the birthday celebrant admits he never expected such a response, from kindergartens to nursing homes. And like the British gentleman he is, the same man who greeted attacking tribes in Papua New Guinea with an outstretched hand in 1957, he wishes us all a pleasant day.

The legend of Sir Attenborough was born through the production and narration of nature documentaries. The series Life on Earth was filmed with the help of more than 500 scientists in 100 locations, from the Galápagos Islands to the Great Barrier Reef. Television had never seen anything like it before.

We watched him dive with a pod of humpback whales, let gorillas groom him in Rwanda, and become surrounded by 120 million crabs. Every one of his stories reveals admiration for the genius of Mother Nature, increasingly overshadowed by disbelief at human stupidity and irresponsibility.

David Attenborough and water: if we save the sea, we save our world

At the beginning of the 21st century, the series The Blue Planet was released, presenting underwater life beyond our imagination, from jellyfish pulsing with light to shrimp secreting bioluminescent slime. The British narrator also showed chilling scenes of orcas attacking a much larger whale, making viewers aware of the brutality of the natural world. Yet everything here has its purpose. A whale’s carcass sinks to the ocean floor to give hundreds of other organisms a chance to survive.

The film Ocean, shot 20 years later, proves that there is less and less of that purpose left on Earth. After almost 100 years spent on this planet, I understand that the most important place on Earth is not land, but the sea, Sir Attenborough said at the premiere of the documentary, which he considers one of the most important works of his career. The shocking footage showing a chain dragged by trawlers devastating the seabed is paralyzing and brings tears to the eyes. It is difficult to imagine a more wasteful way of catching fish, comments Sir David.

An entomological tribute to a legend

David Attenborough’s work is like a bucket of ice-cold water poured over all our heads: politicians, entrepreneurs, and consumers alike. His achievements are also an inspiration for countless scientists who quietly study the natural world disappearing before our eyes.

It is hardly surprising that by 2022, more than 50 taxa of living organisms had been named after the great filmmaker. They include lizards, bats, frogs, weevils, flatworms, snails, and spiders. There is even Attenborosaurus, a genus of plesiosaur whose remains were discovered on the coast of Dorset.

For his 100th birthday, Sir David Attenborough received yet another tribute. Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London identified a new species of parasitic wasp in their collections and named it Attenboroughnculus tau. The specimen measures only 3.5 mm and spent more than 40 years forgotten in a museum drawer. Its difference from known species was noticed only recently.

When I was definitely far too young, I learned about taxonomy from David Attenborough’s series Life on Earth and decided to become a taxonomist. Surprisingly, I actually did become one, so that is thanks to Sir David, says Gavin Broad, curator of entomological collections at the British Natural History Museum.