2024-04-18 21:52
There are two reasons we chose to go snorkelling at Sigasiga Sands in Fiji. First, we were looking for a quiet self-contained place to stay that didn’t have a mandatory meal plan. Seco… Read More
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The Importance Of Wildlife: Animal Impact By Simon Mustoe Blog
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human survival
ricketts sapsuckers trevally
exclusive winter
beaumaris
whale
quiet corner
wakatobi
fiji savu savu
ampat snorkeldive trip
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The importance of wildlife is the huge and immeasurable scale of impact wild animals have on the stability, health and functioning of ecosystems. Wild animals turn dust into soil, carbon into food and the weather into a fair climate for living. I write and illustrate about the role of animals for ecosystem stability and human survival. Follow me and visit my website for more.
2024-04-14 05:16
It is definitely getting a bit cooler! According to my dive watch during my snorkel at Beaumaris today, the water today was still 19 degrees. I just bought tight-fitting long sleeve Frogskin… Read More
2024-03-31 21:01
Sorry it’s been remiss of me not to send this out earlier. I’ve been a bit busy since I got back. The Raja Ampat 2024 trip was so good as usual. Yet again we had a delightful gr… Read More
2024-03-29 08:40
There is a petition running to save Ricketts Point. If you have a moment to sign, it would be gratefully appreciated. The object is to petition the Minister for the Environment to demand bet… Read More
2024-03-17 20:32
This weekend we did a snorkel at teahouse Ricketts and fossil beach. Fossil beach was relatively clear water on the Saturday. Despite southeast afternoon winds blowing directly into here, th… Read More
2024-03-15 04:59
Hi there : )
I’m leading a small group to Wakatobi this winter. I’m very excited about visiting and we’ve got a few people who come on my Indonesia trips tagging along. It… Read More
2024-03-12 21:15
Introduction
Last week we were anchored next to the Oceanic Liveboard. By the following night the ship was destroyed by a fire that began in the engineroom. Fortunately no-one was hurt but a… Read More
2024-03-10 22:29
We went out for a quick snorkel to look for Southern Bobtail Squid at Quiet Corner last night. The weather has been HOT, so it was still over 30 degrees at dusk. The water is about 23 degree… Read More
2024-02-27 21:27
It’s always a thrill to be leading another Raja Ampat Snorkel-Dive Trip. It amazes me how much we can see in a single day. We’ve already seen Bottlenose Dolphins, Spinner Dolphin… Read More
2024-02-23 20:29
A new study on whale voice boxes shows how they can produce such complex sounds. But naturally, there are limitations to how loudly they can sing and the implications of this are vast for ou… Read More
2024-02-18 06:43
Another lovely weekend swimming snorkelling Ricketts Point Beaumaris and surrounds. Saturday's morning forecast was a little windier than expected. It made for a turbulent swim at Quiet Corn… Read More
2024-02-17 00:57
Introduction
Colorado State University chose to begin the review of an important article on apex predators with this erroneous statement: ‘removal of apex predators from an ecosystem c… Read More
2024-02-15 19:44
Haeckel’s Jellyfish in Port Phillip Bay are most commonly seen seen between about October and March according to the records published on iNaturalist. While they have the potential to… Read More
2024-02-10 02:37
This morning the wind was blowing from the south which is a little exposed at Ricketts Point. But the wind was forecast to swing more east so we waited until about 9AM before heading out. Th… Read More
2024-02-06 21:00
After recent mouse plagues in Australia the state and federal governments allowed widespread use of second-generation rodenticides. However, everything we know about farm pest management tel… Read More
2024-02-04 07:29
This weekend we decided to stay snorkelling at Ricketts Point mostly. As always, the best laid plans, didn't quite go the way we hoped. On the Saturday we decided to swim from the Scout Hut… Read More
2024-02-01 10:19
I’ve put up a series of links on the webpage for Melbourne snorkelling, wind & webcams. These are the pages I most commonly look at to assess conditions the day before deciding whe… Read More
2024-01-30 21:00
You may not have heard of Budj Bim (pronounced ‘Boodgie Bim’) as it was only declared a World Heritage Area in 2019. So, what is Budji Bim? What am I missing and why is it import… Read More
2024-01-28 19:45
I saw a female Widebody Pipefish at Quiet Corner this week and thought you might like a bit of advice on telling this and Spotted Pipefish apart. Identifying Spotted and Widebody Pipefish ca… Read More
2024-01-28 00:16
How bad is pollution in Port Phillip Bay?
I wonder why Melburnians are not more concerned about the impact of sewage spills in Port Phillip Bay? Because every day I read posts parroting advi… Read More
2024-01-27 10:20
Are you concerned VFA is not listening to you?
Sweeping changes to Victoria’s environmental legislation mandates a totally new approach to marine environmental management. If you&rsquo&hell…Read More
2024-01-26 21:30
Continue reading Short-tailed Nudibranch, snorkelling Port Phillip Bay at Wildlife in the Balance Read More
2024-01-25 20:59
This week, 320 global companies, prepare to embark on accounting for nature in their annual reports. Accounting for nature, wildlife and climate, is soon to become a mainstay of corporate pr… Read More
2024-01-23 02:06
Dropped into the water to do a Quiet Corner snorkel this morning. This is part of Ricketts Point Marine Park but you enter from opposite Centre Road. We stayed south of the rocks, where the… Read More
2024-01-21 08:48
Today I saw something I’ve never seen before. I was swimming at Table Rock inside the Rickett’s Point Marine Sanctuary when I found an abalone lying upside down. What was doing t… Read More
2024-01-12 00:56
We headed down the Mornington Peninsula for a night and Blairgowrie Pier and London Bridge Snorkelling. Weather was forecast to be a very light northerly on the first day and a late-afternoo… Read More
2024-01-03 19:55
Keggie Carew’s Beastly is a book so important that everyone should read it. Not just because its great fun. It’s also a vibrant reminder of our animality. But it taught me someth… Read More
2024-01-01 02:20
Continue reading Fossil shark tooth at Beaumaris, fossil beach at Wildlife in the Balance Read More
2023-12-09 21:19
Here are five surprising facts about coastal erosion, reefs and nature-based solutions that may surprise you. In particular, how much you rely on wildlife conservation for your future. In th… Read More
2023-12-04 23:44
Apologies for the terrible pun … but it seems the Banda Sea is getting more popular. Joanna Lumley recently went there on her Spice Trails documentary. On the way out of the Bay, who… Read More
2023-11-29 21:56
As Europe resumes the ill-gotten idea of killing wolves, Indeera Menon of WWF-India says ‘This is what happens when you forget the tradition of co-existence’. I am currently read… Read More
2023-11-19 20:14
For the first time in my life I’m living near the sea. This morning we did our first swim in overcast conditions from 8:45am until about 10:15am at the famed ‘fossil beach’… Read More
2023-11-16 22:30
Yes, you are reading that correctly. 152 koalas killed by Alcoa, a US aluminium company that run a plant in Australia. It absolutely astonishes me that wildlife are being killed on such a ma… Read More
2023-11-13 21:28
Hi everyone : )
I can’t believe it’s nearly November! Whether it’s the algorithms, my attention or just history, this month has been dominated by great discussions on biodi… Read More
2023-11-01 21:30
Another day, another scientific paper implying that we should feel guilty about hunting prehistoric animals. Well apart from unnecessarily triggering people’s eco-anxiety, let’s… Read More
2023-10-27 21:24
It’s the mystery of whale sharks that makes them remarkable. How can an animal so big be among the least-known on Earth? The fact is, we have no idea how important they really are and… Read More
2023-10-24 21:30
Culture is the thread that binds a population to its country through survival. For Australian First Nations people, their aboriginality is a 65,000 year contract with nature. But nature is u… Read More
2023-10-19 20:27
Wild Tomorrow, Why Wildlife Matters. Wild Tomorrow Ambassador Jeffrey Phillips caught up with Australian scientist and conservationist Simon Mustoe, author of the recently published book Wil… Read More
2023-10-14 21:45
Using Leica Noctivid binoculars was better than I could have imagined. They are a revolution and an absolute joy to use. The very first day I was able to experience both Leica Noctivid &… Read More
2023-09-27 21:35
It’s a plastic plant, I exclaim! An article by Sullivan published in The Guardian titled ‘A sea urchin: they are method actors performing The Waste Land‘ claims that &lsquo&hell…Read More
2023-09-26 20:33
Here are some of the various subjects I’ve been reading about lately. Three articles on animal autonomy, whale personhood and eating rats. All are very enlightening ideas that relate t… Read More
2023-09-23 21:30
In September 2022 I was sat in a cafe surrounded by a family of sparrows. A lady nearby was reading her book while tucking into egg and avocado on toast. She was mildly irritated by the bird… Read More
2023-09-17 22:34
It was a great pleasure to talk to the enthusiastic, erudite and welcoming Tommy Serafinski recently on Tommy’s Outdoors Podcast. Listen to the podcast with Simon Mustoe.
It’s v… Read More
2023-09-11 21:38
Whale sharks are massive energy-crunching behemoths that, ironically, spend their lives in the most nutrient-poor oceans. Why? Here’s the first paradox of ecology that stumps most peop… Read More
2023-09-08 21:37
On November 5th I will be presenting a short talk at the Love your Wildlife Festival in Cygnet, Tasmania on the subject ‘Animals are not the Icing on the Cake.’ Here’s a qu… Read More
2023-09-03 07:13
It was the ultimate migrant. A bird of such abundance it created entire forest ecosystems. This is why Passenger Pigeons were important. This month marks the anniversary of the death of the… Read More
2023-07-20 21:46
This week, a paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal (de Kock et al 2023) [1]. The researchers found that generations of turtles had been using the same… Read More
2023-07-15 01:26
I’d only ever seen whale sharks at the surface before. Swimming with whale sharks in Indonesia was something unexpectedly rewarding. This article is one of a few I’ll be writing… Read More
2023-05-20 23:48
Common Cuckoos are an intercontinental migrant that join a throng of other European birds making their biannual journey to and from Africa. Hearing the first spring cuckoo call is alway… Read More
2023-04-19 22:42
Where are Melbourne’s coral reefs?
Did you know that a marine sanctuary in northern Port Phillip Bay is home to some of the best examples of our region’s coral reefs? Melbourne&r&hell…Read More
2023-04-19 00:55
The power of trees relies on animal impact
What was thrilling about reading Wohlleben’s The Power of Trees was to expand on a notion I covered in a recent blog. That unlike animals, th… Read More
2023-04-19 00:55
The power of trees relies on animal impact
What was thrilling about reading Wohlleben’s The Power of Trees was to expand on a notion I covered in a recent blog. That unlike animals, th… Read More
2023-04-15 00:58
Over Easter we took a break and headed down to the Bass Coast southeast of Melbourne, Australia. The weather was less than glorious over the weekend. But it cleared up allowing us to snorkel… Read More
2023-04-04 21:50
Conversations about my book often come around to the question of: ‘What to do about introduced species?’ (especially in Australia). Or, about the benefits (or otherwise) of tree… Read More
2023-03-30 18:52
In the last few days, three people have separately sent me this new climate paper Schmitz et al. (2023), just published in the journal Nature [1]. Like the study I referred to the other day… Read More
2023-03-26 07:24
The fossil tooth fairy was smiling upon me today. After a snorkel we headed to bayside Melbourne to search for fossils. Soon after, I turned a rock, and found the tooth of a 5-6 million year… Read More
2023-03-19 20:17
It’s common that I’m asked, ‘Are ecosystems regulated top down or bottom up?’ But it’s not that simple. We have a terrible habit of looking for single causal me… Read More
2023-03-12 23:05
Continue reading Raja Ampat Trip Report February 2023 at Wildlife in the Balance Read More
2023-03-12 23:05
Continue reading Raja Ampat, February 2023 at Wildlife in the Balance Read More
2023-03-04 22:00
Billions of years ago two bacteria formed a partnership. One lived on inside the other and became a mitochondria. Mitochondria harness energy. They are the battery that fuel animal cells. Th… Read More
2023-02-25 21:45
How important are soil invertebrates? A new paper in Science Advances may have the answer. Researchers have estimated the abundance of all land arthropods (animals like insects, crabs, spide… Read More
2023-02-18 21:45
Last year there was one morning when Tasmanian Blennies seemed to be everywhere on the mussel beds in Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay. They were swimming over rocks in abundance. The next… Read More
2023-02-14 21:45
We recently visited the Mount Rothwell Sanctuary in Melbourne’s west. Originally created by John Wamsley, this 420 hectare predator-proofed sanctuary was bought in 2004 and is currentl… Read More
2023-02-09 10:37
This June I’m leading a whale shark expedition from Maumere to Bali. One of the focuses is to spend a day or two with whale sharks. I have two cabins left if you’d like to come… Read More
2023-01-31 19:24
There are a million stories behind every animal. Too many to comprehend in fact. This is why, trying to fully understand how an animal exists, is a feat of impossibility. Their livelihoods r… Read More
2023-01-26 20:10
Happy new year. I trust you had a great break over the festive season and are looking forward to an exciting 2023. I’d like to invite you to join me at 2PM Brisbane time (3PM AEST) on… Read More
2023-01-21 22:32
How fragile is life on Earth? A rock from an iron ore mine housed in Museum Victoria gives us a clue. It’s a visual reminder of the instability that happens when we remove wildlife. In… Read More
2023-01-14 02:41
Continue reading Trip Report Snorkelling Heron Island, Australia, 9-13 January 2023 at Wildlife in the Balance Read More
2022-12-28 02:48
ABC Radio with Simon Mustoe on Wildlife in the Balance.Is ‘rewilding’ our best hope of undoing damage to the Earth’s ecosystems?
A new book by ecologist and conservationist… Read More
2022-12-21 21:48
Merry Christmas everyone. Thank you for all your support. This year has been extraordinary for me, as it culminated inthe the release of ‘Wildlife in the Balance’ in October. I… Read More
2022-12-20 04:30
You might have heard about COP15. It means the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The meeting brought together governments from… Read More
2022-12-12 21:42
The environmental newspaper Mongabay published a piece titled ‘Animating the Carbon Cycle: Earth’s animals vital allies in CO2 storage.’ It’s long been known animals… Read More
2022-12-10 00:52
I saw a question on social media today. A parent said their six year old had asked: ‘Why don’t plants have brains?’ What an excellent question. As always, it’s the si… Read More
2022-12-05 22:29
One in five or more of you reading this article are likely to be infected with toxoplasmosis. You probably caught it from a cat but it doesn’t make you feel obviously ill. It does, how… Read More
2022-11-26 21:03
The weather has been a bit rainy lately so we couldn’t go for a swim in the bay. There’s just too much stuff floating down creek, if you know what I mean ; ) So, short of somethi… Read More
2022-11-21 20:00
In her latest book Kristin Ohlsen investigates the body of knowledge that describes how cooperation, not competition, has created life on Earth as we know it. I highly recommend you read Swe… Read More
2022-11-12 23:51
Tiger Sharks are found throughout the world’s tropical and temperate oceans. While Great White Sharks steal the glory in terms of Hollywood, Tiger Sharks may be even more formidable. T… Read More
2022-11-09 20:55
‘Why urbanites need access to abundant wildlife’ is because the places we live are only habitable if we’re surrounded by abundant wildlife.
Conservationists are calling fo… Read More
2022-11-08 20:46
Hi there, here is our Banda Sea trip report. We’ve just returned from an extraordinary 12 days exploring the region on board Pindito. This is the latest of five expeditions we’ve… Read More
2022-11-06 23:40
Hi there! I haven’t been in touch for a while as I’ve been in the Banda Sea with guests and friends for the last couple of weeks. More on that soon.
Meanwhile, here’s a 20… Read More
2022-10-17 19:47
Article by Stephen Webb, published in the South Sydney Herald.
Today’s Bird of the Day, the noisy miner, was suggested by writer and ecologist Simon Mustoe, author of Wildlife in… Read More
2022-10-16 09:30
Toondah is a Ramsar Wetland that is threatened from impacts by a coastal property developer. The developers have said that because Eastern Curlews have become rare, this makes the site less… Read More
2022-10-11 20:37
The relationship between animals, the climate and ecosystems has long been known. This week French scientists (Sauterey, Charnay et al. 2022) said that microbial life on Mars may have create… Read More
2022-10-08 05:45
It was Octopus Day yesterday so I looked out some footage I took in 2019 of a tropical octopus. What amazing creatures? Did you know, every one of the octopus’s tentacles has an indepe… Read More
2022-09-26 23:30
Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past couple of years, either by subscribing to this website, following me on social media or buying a pre-sale copy of ‘Wildlife in… Read More
2022-09-20 01:40
Before the invention of fossil-fuel-driven engines human beings were mostly sedentary creatures. My grandfather barely left the Cotswold valley where his ancestors had lived for generations… Read More
2022-09-09 02:44
The idea that humans can ‘manage’ wildlife seems to have become gospel. However there is overwhelming evidence that such actions undermine our chance to restore ecosystems. Inste… Read More
2022-09-02 01:32
One of the very reasons I wrote ‘Wildlife in the Balance’ was to help empower community groups with alternative narrative for wildlife conservation. So it’s heartening to r… Read More
2022-08-25 06:27
When you see an animal like a Glossy Black Cockatoo you might observe it for a moment. But what if you could watch it for several thousand years? What would you learn differently? When it co… Read More
2022-08-21 08:06
The density of fish at marine parks like Ricketts Point, in northern Port Phillip Bay, peaks in the late summer and declines in winter. The contrast is stark. You can swim in July, August or… Read More
2022-08-19 21:13
People write books about the things they love the most. It is a way to gather one’s thoughts, think more clearly, and reminisce. But mostly it’s to share an experience in words… Read More
2022-08-16 05:03
A little known insect rewilding project happened this week in Melbourne Australia. Several thousand Key’s Matchstick Grasshoppers were introduced into Royal Park. Rewilding is modern c… Read More
2022-08-07 22:20
A European Robin feeds a caterpillar to its chick. A common sight in English gardens, this epitomises animal impact in action. Gardens are ecosystems. Even urban settings can be among the la… Read More
2022-07-31 10:28
Posters in Scotland have conservationists all of a flutter. They claim that seagulls pollute the sea. The answer to the question: ‘Can seagulls pollute the sea?’ is, yes, in theo… Read More
2022-07-28 04:44
Our species’ obsession with controlling nature is almost overwhelming. But one animal can never force an outcome. No matter how hard we try, our efforts to create ecosystems fail, unle… Read More
2022-07-14 01:28
Continue reading Trip Report Snorkelling Heron Island, Australia, 3-9 July 2022 at Wildlife in the Balance Read More
2022-06-21 22:58
The greatest aggregations of megafauna on Earth will always defy human explanation. One case example are the spider crabs of Port Phillip Bay. Made famous by the BBC Blue Planet II series th… Read More
2022-06-20 06:59
Snails ate my letter from Sir David Attenborough! The airmail envelope was sandwiched between glossy election pamphlets and moisture from a day of rain had added red ink stains to the manila… Read More
2022-05-16 22:00
The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences claimed to be the first to demonstrate the role of fisheries in crown-of-thorns outbreaks. The fact that fish control starfish on the Great Barrie… Read More
2022-05-09 00:47
After hearing Michael Pollan interviewed recently I acquired a copy of his book This is Your Mind on Plants. Pollan describes three substances that have had profound impacts on culture and i… Read More
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