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Discoveries you love

As 'Astonish Me' brings the wonder of species discovery to big screens across the UK, we’re asking WWF ambassadors and supporters, "What species would you love to have discovered?"

The handfish

Callum Roberts - extract from The Ocean of Life

"In the Derwent River estuary of Tasmania there lives a little fish with the bizarre habit of walking on its fins. Its pectorals – the fins on either side of the body behind the gills – look like arms that each ends in a webbed ‘hand’; hence the name handfish.

They have flesh coloured bodies speckled red, fins edged in lemon and dark eyes lined with gold. Handfish display to one another in a semaphore of fin flashes and showy standoffs. Nobody knows why they are found here and nowhere else, but such a limited geographic range means local population loss and global extinction are one and the same.

In the 1990s, the handfishes’ universe was invaded by the North Pacific Seastar, an undiscriminating predator from Japan and East Asia whose numbers have since swelled to millions. Among their predilections are handfish eggs laid in nests on the seabed. While all species have a right to exist, the loss of one so charming is especially cruel."

The Bengal tiger

Liz Bonnin

"My first encounter with a Bengal tiger in Central India changed my life forever. We managed to track a spectacular adult tigress for hours as she led us through her territory. She was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and seemed remarkably tolerant of us.

She gave us such a grand tour of her precious habitat that I like to think she was giving me a sign, asking for help and letting me know what I should do next in life.

So I went back to school and studied for a Masters in Wild Animal Biology. Over the years I’ve come to understand much more clearly the great challenges they face especially in terms of decreasing habitat and poaching.

It’s always been very difficult for me to understand what it’s about human nature that can make us so blind to the majesty, beauty and power of the natural world. To me the tiger represents all of this and more. If we let this magnificent creature become extinct, then what does that say about us as a species?"

The Welwitschia tree

Simon Burall

"I first went to the Namib Desert over 20 years ago, yet the memories of the landscapes, plants and animals have stuck with me ever since. Namibia is a vast, largely semi-desert country. The Namib desert is a strip of land barely 100km wide running up the Atlantic coast for the full length of the country.

At first sight the Namib appears lifeless, but beyond this it doesn’t fit the desert stereotype at all. Very little of it is covered by the classic marching sand dunes. It’s most striking feature is the cold, grey fog which is formed when the air from the cold Benguela Atlantic current hits the hot desert winds. This fog, which sustains life in the desert, shrouds the landscape to such an extent that you can often see less than a few metres in front of you.

And this is my first memory of Welwitschia – an odd shaped scrubby mess of a plant looming out of the mist in front of me. The closer you get to Welwitschia the odder it looks. It has only two leaves, weathered and shortened by the incessant blowing of the abrasive desert wind.

As plants go Welwitschia are relatively small. With their tattered leaves, they look so fragile it’s hard to believe that they live for 1000 years or more.

Close to where I first saw Welwitschia is a flat, stony desert plain across which long, straight cart tracks are easily visible. These tracks were made by the ox carts of some of the first white settlers to push up from South Africa. They are over 100 years old; the Namib desert moves so slowly the tracks visibly demonstrate the fragility of the desert ecosystem.

Welwitschia is a connection to nature’s deeper past. That they are found so close to much younger scars of man’s progress is a reminder that we have to find a way to live more lightly on the earth if we are to preserve its oddness, beauty and diversity for future generations."

See some images of the Welwitschia on the ARKive website 

The hawksbill turtle

Peter Jones

"It may not have been a hawksbill but passing along the Somalia - Zanzibar shipping lane in the mid sixties I saw my first large turtle flapping across the path of a 20,000 tonne Union Castle mailship which has now long since been recycled into razorblades.

The light was dying and as a rookie merchant seaman on lookout at the bows I triggered 3 resonant warning bells (object dead ahead) and panic on the bridge!

45 years later (half of them in the waste industry) I now learn about how turtles confuse plastic carrier bags with their favourite jellyfish. This year speaking at a Honolulu conference focused on the Pacific gyre I learned of surface and bottom floor debris - largely plastic - accumulating from river runoff, natural disasters, discarded fishing tackle, ports and seagoing vessels.

It brought back the memory of that lone voyager and whether it might still be alive. I saw images of intestinal blockages causing devastation to aquatic and reptile feeders at the top of the food chain. These are created by plastic films, disposable lighters, pens and polystyrene balls. I also learned of the issues around tissue migration of biphenyls, flame retardants and plasticisers to us via the fish food chain.

End life management of this issue is feasible; economically, technologically and socially and it has renewed my interest in supporting those at the heart of the process and to enlist the support of the private sector to commercialise a solution. All as a result of that chance encounter nearly five decades ago."

The emperor penguin

Lorraine Kelly

"One of the best presents I ever received was a four foot high statue of an emperor penguin who has pride of place in my garden.

My husband found the artist who created the iconic four penguin statues for the front of the Discovery Point centre in Dundee, which is home to the ship that took Scott and Shackleton to Antarctica, and is my favorite museum.

I have always been fascinated by anything to do Antarctica and astounded at how penguins, especially emperors, have managed to survive so far south.

I have amassed a huge collection of penguins, including a toy one sent to me from the Falklands, and each and every one is treasured.

One day I will journey to the far south and see them for myself. Simply an amazing species."

We'd love to know which species you would have liked to discover so why not let us know and leave a comment.

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Why not let us know what species you would have liked to discover