Also by Willie

Lots of people are frightened of sharks. That makes some sense if you think all sharks are relentless man-eating teeth-machines, but in reality the vast majority of them are much more scared of us, or they should be. There are over 350 species of sharks around the world, but they don’t all get to grab the headlines or star in feature film franchises. So in honour of Shark Week, and to show you how daft it is to be irrationally fearful of some of these critters, here’s a quick guide to the silliest-named sharks in our oceans.

It’s Shark Week. You’re allowed to be excited. If you already like sharks you will doubtless be enjoying that the internet is awash with sharp-finned fun. But if you don’t know much about sharks, or are a bit wary because they’re scary, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about.

When I was little, I can vaguely remember a trip to Blair Drummond Safari Park for my birthday. This was back in the days when the world was black and white, Starburst was called Opal Fruits, and they still had dolphins in captivity in the UK. I don’t remember much, but I know we watched a dolphin ‘show’ with balls and hoops and clapping and ‘ooh-ing’.

You can’t see a dolphin in the UK doing that today. That is progress.

Today is International Day for Biological Diversity. An opportunity to celebrate and wonder at the amazingly diverse variety of species we share the planet with. This year it has a water theme, so we’ve been having some fun over on Twitter, and here’s our pick of the weirdest and most wondrous watery wildlife you definitely need to know about.