Me during the March Mammal Madness tournament every year. #2026MMM
12.03.2026 03:46
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Me during the March Mammal Madness tournament every year. #2026MMM
Arabian Oryx, a cream & grey antelope and smallest of the oryx species is adapted to the "hyperarid" deserts of the Arabian peninsula, can reach heights of 4.5 ft at the shoulders & tips the scales at over 450lbs (Leu 2001; Davimes et al. 2018) #2026MMM
That makes so much sense! I show my students the great pbs eons video about green oceans. Thanks!
And now I really want a green BIF…
A tracking app pinged Kara, a 16-foot great white shark, near the Barview Jetty last week.
Found it!
I have a stromatolite one at my college too! Really neat!
That’s what I find so interesting is I was taught they formed in fairly narrow depth ranges, but that doesn’t seem to be holding out very well. And honestly that makes sense with variable thicknesses, soft sediment deformation, etc.
Ok, Milankovitch cycles could make sense!
It was that absurd range that got me. That doesn’t seem to correspond to actual variation in thicknesses.
Close-up photo of a cactus seedling. The seedling is fleshy and succulent. The cotyledons are opposite and horn-like. Spines are emerging from the seedling apex.
Even leafless plants have cotyledons (leaves & cotyledons are not homologous). This seedling of a cactus, Homalocephala texensis (📷: Wolfgang Brüsehaber CCBYNCSA2), shows the two, horn-like cotyledons. Spines (modified true leaves) are just starting to emerge. #Cactaceae #cotyledon #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Banded iron in a cut and polished side roughly 6” long in a vertical orientation compared to image.
Help geo/paleo hive mind! A student asked how much time is represented in a band of a banded iron formation and not only am I clueless, but my Google Scholar search didn’t yield a clear answer.
A small pale yellow gastropod shell has eroded out of a shell bed, with about a dozen robe-like ridges.
A single clam shell has been subjected to to much weathering, and is fracturing apart, the little bit of matrix inside the shell is just barely holding the slowly separating fragments
A lovely tall-spired gastropod shell sits on a sandy beach.
Oregon trip, part 3: @paleowin.bsky.social, myself, and a couple others visited the middle Pleistocene Port Orford Formation in SW Oregon to look for rare Pleistocene marine mammals. We didn't find any, but visiting without finding many incredible fossil mollusks is impossible!
Two ring-shaped exposed bits of fish vertebrae in a shelly conglomerate with a silver wedding ring for scale.
Three rings: two fossil fish vertebrae, probably "Smilodonichthys" rastrosus, with my wedding ring for scale. These vertebrae are in a small Empire Formation concretion reworked into the Coos Conglomerate. Spotted during an Oregon coast field trip with @paleowin.bsky.social.
Text of press release reads: Miami Beach Bans Land-Based Shark Fishing — The measure is intended to prevent potential injuries to beachgoers — Miami Beach, FL – With millions of visitors who come to soak up the sun and experience the city’s 7-miles of pristine beaches each year, the Miami Beach City Commission has voted unanimously to prohibit land-based shark fishing. The measure applies to shark fishing along the shoreline as well as from any dock, bridge or other land-based structure. “We’re targeting heavy-duty fishing equipment that can cause serious injuries to families or anyone who happens to be enjoying our public beach areas,” explained Miami Beach Commissioner Laura Dominguez, who sponsored the measure. The ordinance notes that shark carcasses have been discovered along the shores of Miami Beach as well as in neighboring communities as an apparent result of fishing or mishandling sharks. “We are not only reducing dangerous human-shark interactions in our swimming areas, but also taking a firm stand against the degradation of our vital marine ecosystem,” said Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner. “This is a critical step in ensuring our world-class beaches remain a safe environment for every resident and visitor.” While the primary focus of the ordinance is directed at protecting residents and visitors, the legislation is also intended to prevent the “intentional or negligent capture, injury or killing of sharks within or adjacent to city waters” and to protect endangered marine life and species protected under state law. Shore-based shark fishing requires the use of long lengths of fishing line and large hooks that can pose injury hazards for swimmers, surfers, waders and other shoreline users.
Oh wow, the city of Miami Beach has banned all land-based shark fishing.
I worked on this issue during my Ph.D., resulting in a statewide campaign that tightened regulations for this practice: conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🧪🦑🌍🦈
Algae covered wave-cut platform along the Oregon coast, with trees on a low bluff to the left.
A beautifully preserved and exposed scallop emerging from 9 million year old siltstone.
Win McLaughlin standing on the Coos Conglomerate in coastal Oregon.
Win holding a small concretion from the Empire Formation studded with fossil mollusks
Oregon trip, part 1: a couple of weeks ago @paleowin.bsky.social flew me up to coastal Oregon. Before my lecture, we went out to explore the Empire Formation - a famous late Miocene locality for giant walruses (e.g. Pontolis magnus).
Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!
"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."
Did you poke any? Apparently they molt n’ mate, so if their shells are somewhat soft that’s probably what was going on?
Vertical shot of the tidepool along the shore of Coos Bay with thousands of kelp crabs stuck in the deep end of a large tidepool. A mud flat is exposed in the background at low tide.
Hundreds of kelp crabs, resembling small spider crabs, hanging out in a tidepool; they have a smooth, hexagonal carapace with spines at the corners, and long legs. These are all a darkish brown color.
Hundreds of kelp crabs, resembling small spider crabs, hanging out in a tidepool; they have a smooth, hexagonal carapace with spines at the corners, and long legs. These are all a darkish brown color. A reddish individual is sitting next to a fossil scallop exposed in the bedrock that makes the tidepool.
Hundreds of kelp crabs, resembling small spider crabs, hanging out in a tidepool; they have a smooth, hexagonal carapace with spines at the corners, and long legs. These are all a darkish brown color.
Incredible tidepooling experience: last week in Coos Bay Oregon I saw thousands of northern kelp crabs (Pugettia productus) with @paleowin.bsky.social, all huddled in a large #tidepool. I have no idea what was happening. Bonus fossil scallop if you can find it 🦀🦑🧪
Death Valley desert gold now!
90% sure it’s gomphothere because extra lumpy!
Section of mastodon or gomphothere tooth!
Peppermints are a pretty common horse treat! Although my other horse Sammy hate them… Sausage definitely has more of a sweat tooth. Peppermints are his favorite followed by red vines licorice.
Bay horse standing at a gate tilting head to side as a hand holds a candy cane out in front of him
Horses head tips more as candy cane nears
Candy cane enters the horses mouth and tongue is visible
Candy cane has fully entered pony snoot
Sausage’s favorite time of year: candy canes are on sale season.
Colour photo. a stereotypical fibreglass raptor concreted on the top of a triangular prism-esque stone monument, depicting dinosaur fossils. the simple terra cotta design looks crude, but is a homage to old colonial street signs in Merida, a city to the south
Buenas tardes from the monument in the market square at Chicxulub!
Chambered nautilus phragmocone, dorsal perspective. The outer wall is damaged, revealing hemispherical inner septa separating camerae, each with a small, calcified nozzle indicating the location of the siphuncle.
Chambered nautilus phragmocones in side view. The outer wall of the one on the left is damaged, revealing hemispherical inner septa separating camerae, although the siphuncle cannot be seen from this perspective. The living chamber is damaged but visible, revealing a pearly, nacreous luster. The one on the right is a fragmented partial phragmocone, damaged after an apparent attempt to cut a sagittal section. The logarithmic progression of hemispherical septa is clearly visible.
#MolluskMonday represents today with Nautilus, a modern chambered cephalopod. Like ammonites, nautiloids have an external conch and lived in the final chamber, using the camerae for floatation. However, ammonites were much more closely related to coleoids like Spirula, with its intenal conch. ⚒️🧪
It was near Halloween, but definitely Vegas. There was a dress up event. But positively Vegas with creepy French recordings in the bathrooms and the weird poolside welcome instead of at a museum.
Will always look for an excuse to post this post from Gritty’s official Instagram account.
The caption reads simply “gritty luvs u”.
chromolithograph depicting three hippos with blue water and green vegetation, a mother with baby on back in the water and a second adult (with a very silly face) on the bank
Another goofy hippo face for #WorldHippoDay 🦛:
The #hippopotamus. Chromolithograph by Gibson & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1874.
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