‘Sir David is 94. He is a wonder’: Attenborough’s ‘beautiful’ reply to worried 4-yr-old wins praise online

“Sir David is 94. He is a wonder,” Holt added.

Read the full letter here:

My little boy (age 4.5) wrote to Sir David Attenborough to ask if humans would be extinct one day “like the dinosaurs”. Today he received this beautiful reply: “The answer is that we need not do so as long as we look after our planet properly.”

Sir David is 94. He is a wonder 💚 pic.twitter.com/JR2cgcA1Ay

— Gerry Holt (@Gerryholt) March 17, 2021

In an interview with the BBC, Holt, who is a communications officer for medical research at Cardiff University, shared how she didn’t know how to answer her son’s questions but felt that “honesty was the best policy”.

“I said I didn’t know the answer – but I hoped not. So I told him about climate change and how we need to look after our planet,” she told the news website.

“We also talked about the work lots of amazing people, like Sir David and Greta Thunberg, are doing to make sure people are taking action to make a difference,” she added.

Post their discussion over climate change, the little boy decided to write to Sir David and were soon delighted to receive the response. “His little face just lit up when I read the letter to him this morning. He knows who Sir David is and that he’s special – but I think he’ll need to be a bit older before he really understands the significance,” she told the news website.

Since being shared online, the post has gone viral and received several reactions from netizens, who were impressed by Attenborough’s humble yet apt response.

Handwritten so beautifully. What a wonderful thing to have.

— Jules Callaghan (@JAPC72) March 17, 2021

Brilliant that your boy wrote to him & equally brilliant that he replied 👍❤️

— BoylePete1970 (@BPete1970) March 17, 2021

Brilliant that is …love your sons question and Sir David is superb with his response…

— Raj Chopra (@rajchop1911) March 17, 2021

He’s an amazing man. I just wish the powers that be listened to him.

— lin (@lindaleitchman) March 17, 2021

It’s lovely. And also makes me sad…feel like we may as well switch off the lights when David leaves this mortal coil. A planetary treasure.

— Craig Ray (@craigray11) March 17, 2021

My brother who is now 40 wrote him a letter when he was about 7 asking if he could go on safari with him and he too got a written response!! He kindly said it wasn’t possible but in such a decent way. Incredible. X

— Joanna Rowlands (@RowlandsJoanna) March 17, 2021