What do the tardigrade and the earthworm have in common? They are, of course, the two previous winners of the Guardian’s Invertebrate of the Year poll. An annual contest that pits some of the the natural world’s finest species against each other in celebration – and to remind ourselves why beetles, slugs, worms and moths and others play a critical role in the planet’s infrastructure.
Contenders to take the tardigrade’s crown this year include the common woodlouse and the immortal jellyfish. We’ll be revealing the rest of the shortlist over the next few days.
As the Guardian’s natural history writer, Patrick is one of the UK’s foremost nature writers and has written books about badgers, moths and his lifelong love of the outdoor world. His recent reporting has looked at rewilding projects, the homing habits of swifts and people pretending to be otters.
He kicked off this year’s IOTY countdown with a paean to the humble woodlouse, which he called an evolutionary trendsetter and shared some of its delightful nicknames: “Chucky pig. Slater. Monkey pea. Roly-poly. Boat-builder. Butchy boy. Cheeselog. Hobbling Andrew. Wood pig.”
Patrick will be here at 4pm BST (11am EDT) to answer readers’ questions about this great project. You can also ask him about badgers, or anything else about the natural world.
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