Richard Conniff

American Wildlife Wants You in the Garden In the fight against the Great Vanishing, every backyard and window box counts

The fight to save species starts in your own backyard. richardconniff.substack.com/p/american-w...

Florida argues fired state parks employee who leaked plans isn’t a whistleblower A judge dismissed James Gaddis’ complaint, but allowed his lawyers to refile it.

Florida Gov. DeSantis’s secret plan to convert state park lands to golf courses & hotels got leaked and led to mass protests. He backed down. Then he fired the state worker who leaked the news. Now a judge has ruled the fired worker wasn’t a whistleblower. www.tampabay.com/news/environ...

In Praise of Being Useless Could that species benefit humans? Try not thinking about it for a change.

We think too much about how wildlife benefits humans. The opposite's what's needed. 🌿 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

In Praise of Being Useless Could that species benefit humans? Try not thinking about it for a change.

Thoughts for your unproductive weekend. richardconniff.substack.com/p/in-praise-...

No Kings As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

No Kings, but especially not this nitwit. Find your nearby March 28 protest here www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i...

Federal workers are "crooked" & "ruining the country," right? But this one saved us from a hideous disease that had been maiming & killing humans for 10,000 years. 🛟
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

How Jeff Bezos Brought Down the Washington Post The Amazon founder bought the paper to save it. Instead, with a mass layoff, he’s forced it into severe decline.

I meant to include this link www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

WaPo owner Jeff Bezos is vain about his physique. But Katharine Graham had bigger gonads & didn't go spineless just because some government jackass threatened to catch "her tit in a wringer." (Image: WSJ)

Measles continues to spread in the US, but with some letup As South Carolina's outbreak grows to 876 confirmed cases, vaccinations in the state surged in January. Cases have also been reported in two ICE detention facilities.

Good news from the #SouthCarolina outbreak: #measles vaccinations up 162% at the epicenter & 72% statewide. People know #VaccinesWork even if RFK Jr. doesn't. www.npr.org/2026/02/05/n...

Down the Rabbit Hole with Our Least Known Kin Your cousins are fungi, and the survival of life on Earth depends on them.

Meet your cousins. They are everywhere, and have a hand in almost everything. 🌿🐙📷 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Sorry, just saw this. But I didn't know.

Plenty of potential #bison habitat out there, if we just let them at it. New study from WCS, Panthera Cats, Re: Wild, et al. act-green.org

Cave mummies discovery could lead to restoring one of the most beautiful animals on Earth to lost habitat. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/cave-cheet...

Slavery, Bird-Stuffing, & Nature: Truth or Fiction? Charles Waterton was a crackpot, or worse--& a pioneering voice for protecting nature.

@richardconniff.bsky.social's bizarre life and work of Charles Waterton, pioneer of taxidermy—and let's not forget his bitter feud with John James Audubon over whether North American vultures hunted by sight or smell. Also, you'll never guess what this strange humanoid figure is made from

You may hate hunting but it played a key role 60,000 years ago in shaping the modern human mind. Poison arrows are the clue. richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-huntin...

Hey, @asyousow.bsky.social, you need to get fossilfreefunds.com back online now. It's ridiculous to be upgrading for days or weeks, especially when people are thinking about these investing decisions at the start of the New Year.

January 6: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy Discover the real January 6 story: peaceful protest turned tragedy, Deep State entrapment, media deception, and President Trump's triumphant pardons restoring justice to patriotic Americans.

Even as they lie about the killing of Renee Good, the Trump White House website is pretending Ashlii Babbit, shot while literally storming Congress, is a martyr. www.whitehouse.gov/j6/?mc_cid=9...

Strange creatures, from an even stranger character in the history of exploration. richardconniff.substack.com/p/slavery-bi...

Reader comment: "Oh what a great read! Bizarre, macabre and also a bit magical, much like taxidermy!" substack.com/home/post/p-...

Sorry, I meant to include this photo.

Slavery, Bird-Stuffing, & Nature: Truth or Fiction? Charles Waterton was a crackpot, or worse--& a pioneering voice for protecting nature.

This pioneering conservationist was deeply complicit in slavery. But he has been admired by naturalists from Darwin to David Attenborough—and by me in my book The Species Seekers, where I also managed to overlook that complicity 🌿🧪🗃️🦉
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Plus a postscript on sharks 🌿

Hmm, "web" is not one of the options on DuckDuckGo, which I use because it seems less likely than Google to sell my information on to the highest bidder. But DDG must be selling space to Amazon and Etsy. House else to explain their lock on results?

Another spike in measles cases amid outbreak in South Carolina CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — The South Carolina Department of Public Health reported another spike in measles cases among the ongoing upstate outbreak. The department announced 15 new cases since Tuesday...

Get your children vaccinated. South Carolina reports 116 measles cases, 27 new cases, and the outbreak is "accelerating." www.yahoo.com/news/article...

#fossils #paleontology

Killer Kings of the River A scientific detective story makes a giant Cretaceous predator even more terrifying.

What if mosasaurs, the giant killers in oceans worldwide, also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Killer Kings of the River A scientific detective story makes a giant Cretaceous predator even more terrifying.

Here's a terrifying thought for your weekend: What if the giant killer in oceans worldwide also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

If you search for possible gifts using google or even duckduckgo, it feels as if Amazon and Etsy have paid to own every shelf in the store. Is there a search term I can use to avoid them?

The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth Buy The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

Here's one for the naturalist in your family. ""A swashbuckling romp…brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era."--BBC Focus. 🌿 🦑🦊 www.amazon.com/Species-Seek...

Part 2 of the desert rhino story richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...