Interested in the conservation of tropical inland fishes? Check out my new paper on endemic Ethiopian fishes, with a bunch of wonderful colleagues from across East Africa and Europe onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Interested in the conservation of tropical inland fishes? Check out my new paper on endemic Ethiopian fishes, with a bunch of wonderful colleagues from across East Africa and Europe onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Near the NSW Central Coast? Cancel anything in your diary for the evening of the 19th May, and come along to Pint of Science 2026! pintofscience.com.au/event/coasta...

Same stars, worlds apart: NSW Central Coast and Khomas Mountains, Namibia

Free on the 19th May? Live near the NSW Central Coast? Get down to Six Strings Brewery, Erina, to join in the global @pintofscienceau.bsky.social science festival. I’ll be trying to straighten out a state of origin battle raging along eastern Australia. You won’t want to miss it!

A @wto.org deal to end unsustainable fishing subsidies is at a standstill as three countries block consensus. While 116 nations have ratified phase one, disputes over fairness and scientific capacity continue to divide wealthy and developing fishing nations. Elizabeth Fitt reports for #Mongabay.

And this artist thought it best to include two species (left and right) in the same art piece. Any guesses? As a hint: both are babies 😂

Caught up with a couple of my favourite artists last week. Can you guess what this one is of? With the artist's signature included, it was quite expensive!

The diamond pythons in the ceiling at work have been quite active this week. I guess they must be sorting out their upcoming winter abodes with the cooler weather. Sooks! And, here's one I prepared earlier...in the garden outside my office window several months ago.

Happy Independence Day, #Namibia!

Breakfast time in the bush! Khomas Mountains, central #Namibia

Wet-season storms can be dramatic in dry, tropical landscapes. Khomas Mountains, central #Namibia

In dry landscapes, you need to safeguard every bit of growth in order to survive. So, plants need some serious defense mechanisms. Not an ideal place to fall over in or to have your arm swiped when filming out the car window (apparently 😉)! Khomas Mountains, central #Namibia

Central #Namibia is a strikingly beautiful but extremely dry landscape

Fixed - a bit more hat balance between #Namibia and #Botswana st work 😎

Yeah, nah - I’ll pass thanks 🤣

It looks like the Uni of Newcastle is boosting its awareness of #Botswana! Or, it could just be its new branding colours, but embracing #Botswana gets my vote 🤣

Always nice to see a bit more biodiversity on campus! I haven’t seen an alive diamond python in the wild since I was in scouts!! #WildOz

Why two of Africa’s most bitter rivals – Ethiopia and Eritrea – are on the brink of war again.

Visitors to #Botswana always want to see lions, leopards, or other large iconic wildlife. But, the cutest, most serendipitous, and (for me) a new species sighting from last year was an acacia rat, Thallomys paedulcus. Spotted by an eagle-eyed student peering out from a tree hollow at Xakanaxa.

My young grandson drew me one of his favourite animals on the weekend. Can you guess which one? Hint: it’s #African !

Melkam Genna (Happy Christmas) to my friends and colleagues from #Ethiopia and #Djibouti! I hope you have a great day with friends and family!

Welcome back to work for 2026, to those of you back this week! Apparently we gained a new doorman over the break! #WildOz

Let sleeping dogs lie? African painted dogs, Khwai, northern #Botswana

As outsiders, we might see African elephants as a wildlife conservation issue, but locals have crop damage and other challenges on their mind! Makgadikgadi National Park, northern #Botswana

And, leaving your phone with staff at your bush accommodation for a minute can produce a few surprises 😂! Monkgigo, Saguni Safari Lodge, Khwai, northern #Botswana

And the #OkavangoDelta

But do allow them to appreciate the natural beauty of the surrounding landscapes. Nxai Pans National Park, part of the Makgadikgadi Pans complex, northern #Botswana

Never take students overseas and allow them to convince you that they can make your hat better! #OkavangoDelta, #Botswana

This 🧵. "Friends don’t let friends eat Tasmanian salmon."

Friends, can I ask a favour. Our latest Honest Government out is a serious warning to Canada from Australia, which acts as a cautionary tail about the harms of the gas (LNG) export industry... Hence the cameo (spoiler alert) from our own aussie climate criminals, Woodside Energy 1/🧵

A group of men gathered outside of the NSW Parliament in Sydney yesterday to call for the inclusion of erectile dysfunction medication on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Water management in South Asia is a messy patchwork of agreements. Closer co-operation would keep rivers flowing, while keeping the peace

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

You can’t beat a night at a campsite! Warby-Ovens National Park, SE Murray-Darling Basin, Yorta Yorta Country. Enjoy your weekend!

Happy 59th #Boipuso to my friends and colleagues in #Botswana! Hope it’s a fun day!

There is still much to be done to fix university governance but nonetheless a huge win for the thousands of NTEU members who have campaigned tirelessly to build better unis. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Melkam Addis Amet to my friends and colleagues from #Ethiopia! I hope 2017 is a good one for us all, filled with plenty of coffee and pastries!

This #ThreatenedSpeciesDay, I’m taking a different approach (and it’s not Australia, sorry!). #Botswana is not quite 1/3 of NSW in area, but has over 130k elephants to manage. These megafauna impact a lot of plant biodiversity, and village agriculture. A major challenge for people and ecosystems.

Otoliths sit in pairs in a fish’s skull and give it a sense of balance in the water column. But some species like the European sand goby can have widely different otolith size and shape between their left and right sides as larvae/early juveniles! You never see them swimming in circles though!

Like them or not, structures like this aren’t going anywhere. But we need to do much better with understanding and funding ways to support aquatic biota, especially downstream. Effects of human health like malaria transmission from mosquitoes are equally rarely thought of.

It's 5 years since the best thing I've ever written and will ever write aired on Mad As Hell

The deaths of two unlicensed fishers in Kenya’s Lake Navaisha region, allegedly at the hands of the Kenya Coast Guard Service, raise questions about tactics used to police illegal fishing.

Very interesting, and something I can attest to…. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

"More than 1,500 civilians may have been massacred during an attack on Sudan’s largest displacement camp in April, in what would be the second-biggest war crime of the country’s catastrophic conflict." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

It is way time the @albomp.bsky.social government acknowledged this in its support of the Australian university sector. What's good for unis is good for the national accounts. thepienews.com/australian-c...

I may have been a bit slow to this party, but the imagery at www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/fishatlas/co... looks to have lots of potential - especially if larger images and other metadata such as actual measurements were also available. If you are into fish morphology, check it out!

Mmmm, remember Danakil #Ethiopia??