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If you’ve ever watched a nature documentary, chances are you’ve heard Sir David Attenborough’s voice. For nearly eighty years, he’s been showing us the wildest corners of the planet. Ahead of his 100th birthday tomorrow, it’s hard not to think about how much he’s helped us appreciate the world around us.
As a nod of appreciation, scientists have been naming plants and animals after the naturalist for years. Over fifty different species now carry Attenborough’s name, from echidnas to a dinosaur called Attenborosaurus. Here are a few of the best.
8 plants and animals named after Sir David Attenborough
1. Attenborosaurus conybeari (prehistoric plesiosaur)
It’s fitting that a man who has spent his life amazed by life on Earth has a sea monster named after him. Attenborosaurus was a plesiosaur that swam in warm seas off the south coast of England about 190 million years ago. It had a long neck, a round body, four paddle-like limbs, and sharp teeth for surprise attacks. What makes this name special is that Sir David has a whole group of animals, not just one species, named after him. You can see a plaster model of the Plesiosaurus conybeari skeleton at the Natural History Museum in London.
2. Nepenthes attenboroughii (giant carnivorous pitcher plant)
Its pitchers are 30cm wide and can catch and digest rodents and other small animals. Found on just one mountain in the Philippines and critically endangered, this amazing plant was named by scientists to celebrate his 80th birthday, who said he made the natural world “accessible and understandable to millions.”
3. Zaglossus attenboroughi (long-beaked echidna)
This egg-laying mammal was rediscovered in Indonesian rainforests in 2023 after decades of being feared extinct. Critically endangered, it is one of the most elusive mammals on Earth.
4. Microleo attenboroughi (extinct marsupial lion)
Extinct for around 18 million years, this animal probably ran through treetops, eating birds, frogs, lizards, and insects. According to the University of New South Wales, in 2016, a newly discovered tiny species of extinct marsupial lion from the remote Riversleigh area in north-western Queensland, Australia, was named after Sir David Attenborough following the discovery of its fossil remains.
5. Electrotettix attenboroughi (pygmy locust preserved in amber)
Scientists found this 20-million-year-old tiny grasshopper frozen in fossilised tree sap in the Dominican Republic over 50 years ago, but didn’t fully study or officially name it until 2014.
6. Sirdavidia solannona (flowering plant, Gabon)
Scientists discovered this plant in the thick rainforests of Gabon and, inspired by Attenborough’s impact on their own lives, named not just a species but an entire genus, Sirdavidia, after him.
7. Hieracium attenboroughianum (Attenborough’s hawkweed)
Discovered in a remote rocky area in South Wales in 2015, this was the first living British species named after Sir David. Related to the dandelion, it grows only on one mountain in the Brecon Beacons. A scientist who credits Attenborough with inspiring him to study nature as a child chose to name the plant after him.
8. Attenborougharion rubicundus (Tasmanian burgundy semi-slug)
Brilliantly coloured in speckled red and bright green, this small land snail earns its semi-slug status because its thin, brittle shell can’t contain its whole body. It lives only in the wet forests of Tasmania, and the Australian Museum, of which Attenborough is a lifetime patron, named it in his honour.
Bonus: RRS Sir David Attenborough (aka Boaty McBoatface)
Not a plant or animal, but too good to leave out. In 2016, the Natural Environment Research Council invited the public to name a new polar research vessel, and the internet voted overwhelmingly for Boaty McBoatface. Rather than accept the result outright, the government named the ship RRS Sir David Attenborough instead. As a compromise, a bright yellow submarine deployed from it carries the Boaty McBoatface name.
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