1. Worms are never going to get a strong “cute response”, so they won’t ever be the face of a conservation campaign.
2. Take the earthworm, which doesn’t have the widespread appeal of larger, more charismatic animals such as gorillas, tigers or pandas.
3. But what Darwin rightly recognised is that – panda fans, avert your eyes – worm conservation is much more important once we factor in their provision of what we now call “ecosystem services”, which are crucial to human survival.
