Raising the Baa

MARINE SHEEP WINS GLOBAL COMPETITION

A sheep that spends most of its time grazing on marine algae has won the Guardian's popular 'Invertebrate of the Year' competition 2026.

This Costasiella kuroshimae leaf sheep or 'sea slug' is a rare example of a photosynthetic animal rather than a plant, as it separates the chloroplasts (that convert sunlight into chemical energy) from the rest of the cells and embeds them into its own tissues. In essence, making it a green solar-powered slug!

First discovered in 1993, the leaf sheep, which lives in tropical waters around Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines has become increasingly celebrated thanks to advances in underwater macro photography. At only around 1cm long, they have two dark eyes and two rhinophores that emerge from the tops of their heads that look similar to sheep's ears or insect antenna.

Voted for by hundreds of thousands of readers around the world, who read about and shared their appreciation for these spineless creatures, the leaf sheep beat off tough competition from the world's largest bumblebee, the increasingly threatened Bombus dahlbomii, from Patagonia which finished second. Third place was won by the horseshoe crab, closely followed in fourth by the common woodlouse.

Broadcaster and environmental campaigner Chris Packham, who announced the winner on 20th August 2026 said: "It's very, very beautiful but also very smart too. It harvests photosynthetic material from the algae it feeds upon and builds its own solar panels."

The Guardian said "The competition was launched three years ago to celebrate overlooked and often derided invertebrates, who number at least 1.7m species - about 97% of all animals - with probably millions more still to be discovered and described by science. Without the unpaid labour of wild invertebrates who pollinate crucial crops, filter water, recycle waste, clean up pollution and add fertility to soils, human life on Earth would quickly perish."

Below is a wonderful film of the amazing wonders of various leaf sheep, made 7 years ago in Bali which I hope makes you smile: