14/09/2026
I came across this video when I was up in Ahipara for a National Taiao Hui a few years ago. When something is significant to me, something comes over me... It's like all these alarm bells go off in my body go off saying 'Pay Attention to This!'
Does this happen to you?!
At the time, we were in kauri territory. Pa McGowan and Hori Parata were discussing kauri die back, and how to remedy it. The video sparked an idea within me. I hadn't quite comprehended the ecological role of the whale on cycling nutrients, and the scale of the cycling..and the death that replenished life.
I wondered if the relationship between the kauri and the tohora was to explain to us that kauri do a similar thing, but on land, within the soil layer 🤔
I guess every time someone removed a kauri log they didn't just take the wood, they took all the nutrients, minerals and carbon stored in that massive rakau so that it never broke down and returned all-that-it-was to the ecosystem. 🤔 And so much was taken.
I guess then it's not surprising that their health declined over time and got weakened to disease 🤔
To us it seems like it's 'just happened' over the last couple of decades, somewhat randomly and from nowhere. But ngahere time is different, especially in Aotearoa... the cogs turn slowly.
Anyway, just some morning whakaaro 😅
Whales have a surprising and important job, says marine biologist A...
