As David Attenborough reaches his 99th birthday, his life reveals an extraordinary journey from fossil-hunting child to global conservation icon. Born in 1926, his childhood fascination with ammonites in Charnwood Forest sparked what would become a planet-changing career. Those early fossil hunts at age 11 unearthed 150-million-year-old specimens that kindled his lifelong paleontology passion. The scientific community has honored his contributions by naming over 50 species after him. Attenborosaurus conybeari, a Jurassic plesiosaur genus renamed in 1993, joins living species like the long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), carnivorous pitcher plant (Nepenthes attenboroughii), and ghost shrimp (Ctenocheloides attenboroughi). Perhaps most remarkable is … Continue reading Sir David Attenborough at 99: 50+ Species Named After Conservation Icon Who Shaped Climate Policy