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coastalpaleo.bsky.social
Marine mammal paleontologist, artist, snorkeler, beachcomber, tidepool enthusiast. Chief paleontologist for Charleston Center for Paleontology.
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the insinuation here that Levitsky’s politics might influence his scholarship has the causation exactly backwards

#OrcaFacts: Orcas, like all dolphins, swallow their food whole. Their sharp teeth are used for ripping and tearing but are not suited for chewing. Photo by Whale Watch Western Australia #WhaleTales #OrcaActionMonth

Pope Leo’s first US episcopal appointment, San Diego’s Bishop-designate Pham, a Vietnamese refugee, invites priests and faith leaders to “stand in solidarity”with migrants at courthouse on June 20, as they make court appearances.

Let's fucking go

There are now more than 2000 #NoKings events scheduled for all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and about a dozen foreign countries. RSVPs are skyrocketing, which is particularly worth noting because a lot of people are very understandably dead set against RSVPing. We will not back down.

Sources said that even at the start of his second term, Trump was discussing with multiple advisers where & when it would make sense to send in federal troops, either for supposed crime control or in response to larger-scale public activism against his agenda. 🔗 www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

look at this, an interesting view of the moon with the left being the far side never seen from earth and the right being the part we normally see. this was captured by galileo on its way to jupiter 🌕

It's finally out! 200 years since the description of Eurypterus remipes, the first eurypterid named in the scientific literature, I present a summary of the history of eurypterid research and an updated taxonomy of every known species.🧪⚒️ doi.org/10.1206/0003...

Updated blog post! What do we do with old genus/species names in paleontology when they're based on scrappy fossils? I argue, that unless the names have been stabilized for a long time - like Basilosaurus and Zygorhiza - we probably should leave them alone in favor of taxonomic stability.

The Gilded Triggerfish (Xanthichthys auromarginatus) is a common and widely distributed fish. But because it prefers deeper waters (usually below 40m) in places with a lot of current, it's rarely seen. I photographed this beautiful male in the Maldives at about 70m depth.

Folks, if you're an iNaturalist user and especially if you are a monetary donor, please comment on their post and ask them to stop partnering with Google AI. It'll devalue and alienate the very scientists that have made the site great. They should be paying experts instead.

I made a Godzilla play set

There is no tomorrow for Moa kind. In this result of yesterdays #paleostream we explore the Holocene of New Zealand, a world we largely lost not even 1000 years ago.

I can"t believe i went from being in my 20's during Trump's intial rise to being solidly middle age, having weird body aches and getting grey hairs while still dealing with this shit.

Need data to explain the disastrous proposed cuts to NASA? Here are seven charts that lay out why The White House’s FY2026 budget proposal poses a historic threat to NASA. www.planetary.org/articles/nas...

Photoshopping @lastweektonight.com’s John Oliver onto fossils until the Paleontological Research Institution secures their funding! Specimen is an artificial cast of a Homo habilis skull courtesy of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Model by Hannah Teush. Comedian is H. sapiens. Not to scale.

Photoshopping @lastweektonight.com’s John Oliver onto fossils until the Paleontological Research Institution secures their funding! Fossil specimen of the ghost crab, Ocytode quadrata, from the Pleistocene Anastasia Formation of Brevard County, FL (PRI 43014). Comedian is H. sapiens. Not to scale.

That is 54, 5-year NIH biomedical research grants. Or 270 years worth of biomedical research.

as long as journalists and pundits act as if they are amateur political strategists & not people trying to understand and tell the truth about the world, they are going to take the implicit view that voters can never be wrong, which then demands endless explanation of their morally blameless choice

Why, hello there! Mars Odyssey spots Arsia Mons through pre-dawn clouds 🧪🔭 www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-ma...

Some days, the sand dollars you find on the #beach are just more intact than other days. So... #art! #marinelife #smallwonders #nature #zen #outside #upperleftusa #PNW #OregonCoast #photography #abstract #hiking #ocean

#TidesOutTuesday #RockinRock #JuneSea #Rock Rocks, arches, tide pools, cliffs, birds and the ocean from the Point Buchon Trail in Montana De Oro State Park, California. #EastCoastKin #Scape #LandscapePhotographer

Belated Pelican Eel study for last week's #SundayFishSketch on the bioluminescent theme. I was gonna skip this bc of timing things, then found out about these guys! Had to make a study, which grew into this piece 🐡 #art #SciArt #nature #wildlife #fish #artists #illustration #deepsea #creatures

ChatGPT is down but The Museum of English Rural Life still stands, proving once again that Silicon Valley cannot compete with the history of rural England and its people.

Even more from the same comic.

Very excited to see our paper using historical data to infer toothed whale lifespans published this week in the Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society (@biojlinnsoc.bsky.social) doi.org/10.1093/biol... w. @darrencroft.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social @mialybkaer.bsky.social, Dan Franks

Not all Ice Age animals lived on land! Some might be surprised to learn that ancient walrus bones have been found alongside mammoth and steppe bison fossils on Qikiqtaruk. These beaches are the only place in the Yukon where you can find remains of Ice Age marine mammals. Learn more: bit.ly/3FJebri

This bubble snail decides to bother a clam and is blown away

#molluskmonday A large scallop in an early Pliocene (~4 myo) exposure of the Purisima Formation of Northern CA photographed during a field outing a few weeks ago. This is possibly Patinopecten healyi, though it could also be Lituyapecten purisimaensis. Scallop is ~15 cm diameter.

Day 42 of photoshopping @lastweektonight.com's John Oliver with fossils in the hopes that he saves the Paleontological Research Institution A vase shaped clam companion to help with hot sauce. John(right, H. sapiens) is joined by the rudist Dictyoptychus persica (cut in half). #SavePRI #fossils 🦑

#MolluscMonday Myophorella clavellata shellbed on display at the Natural History Museum, London. The bivalve shells have been polished by the fingers of countless visitors touching them. Jurassic, Osmington, Dorset.

It's safe to say I'm now hooked on photographing dolphins. No blue whales today, but being surrounded by 600-800 dolphins is unbeatable 🦑🦊🌿

The face of a bird who knows you didn’t vote for him for pope (Northern Cardinal)

From my artist in the window duties. Atlin Lake. #Watercolour on paper, 8x10 inches. #Watercolor #YukonArt Painting of the day 1929.

Ordinary Germans did not come out in numbers to try to block the troops taking their Jewish neighbors away, so this moment is giving me a lot of hope and pride. Americans aren't ready to capitulate to fascism

Happy #WorldOceansDay here are some seals for you! #seals #pinnipeds

Glutinous monster, squelch, writhe, recoil under touch, rare sight to behold! #JuneSea #Floating #Intertidal #GooseBarnacle #Barnacle #seacreature #photography #photographersofbluesky #monster #AlphabetChallenge #WeekWForWacky #seaside #nature #beach #hermaphrodite #curiouscreatures #alttext #weird