Read David Attenborough's Sweet Letter to Girl Naming Pet After Her 'Hero'

Sir David Attenborough is famous around the world for his depth of knowledge about the natural world, lending his distinctive voice to dozens of documentaries.

During the course of his career spanning six decades, he has become an authority in wildlife and nature, inspiring countless generations to appreciate and conserve our planet.

The sir, dubbed a "national treasure," is one little girl's hero. So impressed with the 96-year-old, she named her pet after him, explained her dad, Darren Logan.

The 9-year-old wrote Attenborough a letter, informing the presenter of his namesake pet, and Logan was shocked when Attenborough replied.

Logan, from England, shared the touching exchange Saturday on Twitter, where it has since amassed 90,000 likes.

The dad wrote: "My daughter named her new pet, Sir David Stickenborough, after her hero. She wrote to tell him this. Obviously he responded.

"Sir David is getting renamed, apparently, but my daughter's fascination with nature has been reinforced. #NationalTreasure."

Logan shared the letter signed by the BBC stalwart; ever the educator, Attenborough gently informed the youngster of her pet's true nature.

"Thank you for your letter," it begins, as he continues: "I am so glad you are interested in stick insects. I am too and, when I was your age I also kept some. They are indeed fascinating."

It goes on to say: "The one of which you sent me a photograph, however is not, however a stick insect. It's a leaf insect."

Presumably the bug will be renamed Sir David Leafenborough in due course.

Speaking to Newsweek, Logan shared his daughter's joy at receiving the reply around four days after she wrote to the naturalist.

He said: "The leaf insects were bred by a school friend, who had 20 of them to give away. So we got two of them, the larger Sir David and the smaller Pumpkin. They join our other pet, a cat called Baggie.

"The insects are about 2 months old and my elder daughter is obsessed with David Attenborough, so wanted to honour him. It was my wife's suggestion that she write to him, but my daughter was very happy to share photos and ask him questions about stick insects in general."

He admitted he wasn't expecting a response, saying: "We did not expect him to reply, to be honest, so we're all rather amazed when the letter arrived on Saturday morning. Much less the fact that he had clearly taken the time to personalise the response.

"My daughter was completely overwhelmed with excitement and has taken the letter into school today to show her class. And she is then framing it and hanging it in the wall in her bedroom."

He confirmed the second leaf insect was named Pumpkin by his 7-year-old daughter, who "is much less interested in nature but likes cute things," and said, "My elder daughter is much more academic and has always been fascinated by nature documentaries, particularly Sir David's. Her current career plan is to be a veterinarian, inspired by her love of animals."

Attenborough is well known for documentary series Life, Blue Planet, Green Planet, Frozen Planet and Planet Earth.

2020 saw the broadcast of the hard-hitting A Life on Our Planet, which laid bare the trials and tribulations facing the human race.

Sharing his "witness statement," Attenborough voiced fears over climate change, habitat destruction, loss of species and other pressing issues.

Another one of his famous features was The Queen's Green Planet, released in 2018, featuring his fellow nonagenarian, Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away September 8 at 96.

The long-awaited Frozen Planet II was released on the BBC earlier this week, with the six-part series promising "a journey through Earth's frozen worlds."

It's not the first time something has been named after Attenborough, with the research vessel owned by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) dubbed the RRS Sir David Attenborough.

Operated by the British Antarctic Survey, in 2016 NERC opened a poll for the British public to suggest and vote on names for the ship.

In an unforeseen twist, a tongue-in-cheek suggestion of Boaty McBoatface was put forward, which was ultimately chosen as the winner by the public.

However, it was announced the vessel would be named after the naturalist instead, and a remote-controlled submersible on board was given the popular moniker.