Animal Karma

Ever feel like a fish out of water? Meet the giant mudskipper (Periophthalmodon schlosseri). Believe it or not, this fish needs to breathe air and spends a decent amount of time on land! Found on the muddy shores of mangroves in parts of Southeast Asia, it uses its pectoral fins to “skip” or “walk” across mudflats.

Photo: mysorekid, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, iNaturalist

The Floating Forest of Australia: Nature’s Masterpiece

In Homebush Bay, Sydney, an extraordinary sight awaits—an abandoned steamship that has been transformed into a living, floating forest.

The vessel is the SS Ayrfield, built in the United Kingdom in 1911 and brought to Australia a year later. For decades it worked as a cargo ship, and during World War II it carried supplies for Allied forces across the Pacific. After the war, it continued in the coal trade until its retirement in 1972, when it was sent to Homebush Bay to be dismantled.

But instead of disappearing, the ship remained. Over time, nature claimed it. Trees and thick vegetation rooted themselves deep into its rusting hull, turning the once-industrial vessel into a surreal green oasis adrift on the water. Today, the SS Ayrfield is celebrated as the Floating Forest, a symbol of resilience and one of Sydney’s most photogenic landmarks.

Other wrecks, such as the SS Mortlake Bank, also rest in the bay, though the Ayrfield’s transformation makes it the most iconic. Together, they form part of the region’s maritime heritage—a reminder of its industrial past and the astonishing ways nature can breathe new life into forgotten places.

The Floating Forest is more than a curiosity; it’s proof that even in the most unexpected corners, nature can reclaim, restore, and create beauty from what was once abandoned.