How I transformed Leonardo DiCaprio into a beetle | Iva Njunjić | TEDxGhent

Over the past 250 years, naturalists have discovered, described, and named 2 million species of animals and plants. But this is probably only 20% of the number that really exists. How difficult is it to discover a new species? Can anyone do it? And why is it important? Hear Iva Njunjić tell the story of one tiny beetle that made it into the international media.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

On the morning
of the 1st of May this year,

the world woke up to discover

that Oscar-winning Hollywood star
Leonardo DiCaprio

had been transformed into a beetle.

This is the story
of how I made it happen.

But let me start the story
with a simple question:

How many animal species
are there on Earth?

What would you say?

Usually people say something
like a few tens of thousands.

Well no, the answer
is probably around 8 million.

And that is because
all of these mammals and birds

are just a small fraction of biodiversity.

The true diversity
is in the millions of tiny creatures,

such as insects, snails, spiders.

So during three centuries of biology,

we have discovered and named
only 1.5 million species.

So just a small portion
of the true number.

And, you know, we may have cataloged
all the craters on the Moon,

but right here, on Earth,
in the 21st Century,

80% of species are still unknown to us.

I mean, that's insane, right?

But why is that?

Well, you know, it seems that
these small creatures have really bad PR

because, like most people, even biologists
are mostly focused on the big ones.

And there are hundreds of scientists,
all over the world,

working on one species of tiger,

but there is only one scientist
for every 1,500 species of insects.

And this unknown, unstudied majority
is getting more and more important

because human activities are nowadays
accelerating the rates of extinctions.

So every day we are losing species

before we even have the opportunity
to discover them and to get to know them.

This means there is still
a lot of work to do for taxonomists.

Taxonomists are biologists, like myself,
whose job is to discover new species.

And I really think that we have
the best job in the world, you know?

Like, it's a lot of fun,

and there is nothing we like better
than being somewhere out in the forest

in search for new species.

Also, the public expect us to do that.

A few years ago,

the Dutch government set up something
called "The National Research Agenda,"

which was an opportunity
for the general public

to send in questions
they thought scientists should answer

from their tax money.

And one of the main things
people asked from biologists

was to discover new species

and figure out how many species
are there on Earth.

But unfortunately, at the same time,
public funding for taxonomy is going down

because governments give priority
to cutting-edge science,

while taxonomy is more traditional.

So we started thinking of alternative ways
to fund our research.

And then we thought,

"What if we involved those non-biologists

who, like us, love the idea
of discovering new animals?

Kind of taxonomy tourism."

So we started an organization
called "Taxon Expeditions."

And what we do is we organize
scientific expeditions

for the general public -

so for laypeople interested
in nature and science.

And the goal of every expedition
is to discover new species.

Participants pay for being part,

and from that money we fund everything -

the whole expedition, the research,

the sponsorship of local students
and local researchers,

and also the scientific publications.

And what is very important

is that the outcome
is available for everybody.

So all the specimens
that we collect on these trips

are deposited in local museums

so that local researchers
and conservationists can also study them.

And we publish all our new species
in open-access journals

so that anyone can read
those papers free of charge.

But how do you discover a new species?

Can anyone do it? How hard is it?

Well, it's actually
surprisingly easy, you know?

You just sweep a butterfly net
through some jungle foliage

or pick up a handful of dead leaves
from a tropical forest,

and it is nearly guaranteed
that you will be picking up new species.

In fact, you can probably even find
new species in your own backyard.

But the trick is to figure out
which ones are new and why.

And that is something
you need experts for.

Experts like Hendrik Freitag, for example,
from the University of Manila,

who knows all there is to know
about water beetles.

Or Menno Schilthuizen
from Leiden University,

who is a specialist
for tropical snails and slugs.

Or myself, a specialist for cave beetles.

It also helps to have
a team of geneticists

with their portable DNA lab,

with which they can read
the DNA of the new species.

So put these people
plus a bunch of enthusiastic laypeople

in a jungle field station for ten days,

and you have a recipe for success.

And these are some images
from our expedition to Borneo.

So this is Aglaya,
a novelist from the Netherlands.

And these are photographer
Brock from Australia;

college administrator William from Texas,

who really loved this canopy climbing;

anthropologist Tony, also from Australia.

So none of these people is a biologist,
but they all have something in common.

They all have passion for biodiversity
and heart for conservation.

And what they get during these trips
is very unique experience.

So they get to spend ten days
in a remote place

learning from scientists.

They discover new species, and they get
to give them official scientific names.

But more importantly, they help
to speed up the biodiversity discovery

and the documentation
of the world's threatened biodiversity.

So what do we do on these expeditions?

Well, our expeditions
consist of two parts.

First part is the fieldwork,

where we teach participants
all the tricks and the trades

that field biologists are using
to collect and to discover new species.

And the second part
takes place in the field lab,

where we instruct people
how to sort and study the specimens.

We also take apart their genitalia -

I mean of the beetles, not participants -

because this part of the body
is crucial to identify different species.

We also extract and analyze the DNA
of the collected samples,

and at the end of the expedition,

we all vote and we all together
choose names for new species.

And then the whole team
works together on a publication,

which we submit to a scientific journal.

So, so far, we had four expeditions,
and we discovered 18 new species.

And all of these are, you know,

small animals like very tiny beetles,
a minuscule water mite.

And actually the largest species we found
was this only two-centimeter-long slug.

But despite their small size,

these animals are crucial
constituents of ecosystems,

where they perform
many important functions.

And we are very proud of our discoveries,

but usually when we tell people
about them, you know,

they just kind of shrug their shoulders

because they prefer to hear
about some large mammals

or new species or some showy butterflies.

That's why we have
one trick up our sleeve:

celebrities.

New species are sometimes named after
celebrities and their trademark looks.

Crazy-hair-colored David Bowie spider.

Or a new species of a fly
with a big golden behind

named after Beyoncé.

Or, definitely one of my favorites,

this species of a moth
named after Donald Trump,

which has -

which has really beautiful
blond hair, as you might notice,

but also a very small penis.

(Cheers)

(Applause)

Some famous people are, on the other hand,
immortalized in animal names

not because of their looks,

but because of what they do
for the environment.

And on our first expedition to Borneo,

we found this very tiny,
obscure water beetle.

It was a new species,

and we decided to name this species
after famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio,

who is also, as you may know,
a very dedicated conservationist.

Turns out, sometimes having a famous name

attached to what would otherwise
be an unremarkable little creature

is the only way for these species
to get attention.

So we were expecting this beetle
will get some media attention,

but we were absolutely not prepared
for what happened next.

So Leonardo DiCaprio changes
his profile photo on Facebook -

(Laughter)

to the photo of our beetle.

I mean, how cool is that, right?

Like, this is the best endorsement
of our work we could ever wish for.

And of course,
the media went wild over it.

I was all of a sudden giving interviews
for The Guardian, Forbes, Life Science.

There were videos popping up
on YouTube about this.

It was even featured on TV, on BBC Wild.

Black and tiny Leonardo DiCaprio beetle
may not win any Oscars for its looks,

but in conservation
even the smallest creature counts.

And sometimes it takes a celebrity
to transform himself into a beetle

to get people to take notice
of this entire hidden world

of unknown creepy-crawlies
we share this planet with.

Because they do deserve attention.

Not only because there are so many
out there yet to be discovered,

but because the life
on Earth as we know it

would not exist without them.

By aerating the soil,

decomposing organic matter,
and pollinating the plants,

they are the little things
that run the world.

And with our taxonomy tourists,
we uncover their secrets.

Thank you.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)