Vertebrate paleontologist, specializing in Plio-Pleistocene megafauna (horses & bison, mostly), extinctions, etc. He/him. Views my own.https://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mz2372klos2gRIP Patrick Stewart. 😔29 Oct 2026 20:11 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mz2372klos2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mydzeshew22qIf you see this, post something Blue! 🔵 (This is our hen, Blue. 😊) [contains quote post or other embedded content]21 Oct 2026 01:40 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mydzeshew22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mxua2cvye22fIt's #NationalFossilDay in the US! This year the site of interest is White Sands National Park in New Mexico, US, where human footprints document the earliest confirmed record of people in the Americas. Not coincidentally, a new paper on these fossils is just out! https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeh0707 🧪14 Oct 2026 18:57 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxua2cvye22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mxkvigtefc2pIf you see this, post a Witch. [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Oct 2026 01:54 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxkvigtefc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mxcwvt467s2kThis is a very well-written and well thought out thread. It references the Sternberg Museum, but it applies equally well to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Museums are important. [contains quote post or other embedded content]07 Oct 2026 21:58 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mxcwvt467s2khttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mwwdxvusec2sPowerful letter from paleontologist Kenshu Shimada re: the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State U in Kansas, US closing by years end. Along w/ the closing of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, US, this is an alarming trend in the US right now. #FossilFriday 🧪 [contains quote post or other embedded content]02 Oct 2026 21:47 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwwdxvusec2shttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mwglub4eak2bWe recently had to purchase a new cushion for our old papasan chair, and subsequently each of our kitties has laid claim to it as their own. (Missing: Buzz and Boris. But give them time.) Meanwhile, I'm hardly able to use the chair myself. 🙄 Ah, well, worth it. #Caturday #CatsOfBluesky26 Sep 2026 15:26 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwglub4eak2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mweu35k53k24Here's an action that anyone who cares about the closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia can take to maybe have an impact. Please consider this. Museums are important and what's happening here in Philly is a tragedy with national repercussions. [contains quote post or other embedded content]25 Sep 2026 22:48 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mweu35k53k24https://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mwe3ihs2ac2wFor #FossilFriday: my first-ever visit to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, which is slated to close permanently this weekend unless some sort of miracle occurs. I'm thrilled to finally be here after a lifetime of wanting to visit, but heartbroken at the circumstances for my trip. 🦖🧪25 Sep 2026 15:28 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwe3ihs2ac2whttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mvbdr5hbo22bFor #FossilFriday: holotype of the extinct Pleistocene bison species Bison antiquus, one of millions of specimens housed in the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University - the oldest natural history museum in the US, now slated for permanent closure on 30 September. 🧪11 Sep 2026 19:52 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvbdr5hbo22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mvargpf5jc2xTwenty five years ago, my wife and I were in Canada on 9/11 & were informed by a Starbucks clerk that there had been "some sort of kamikaze attack" back home. We found a local TV & watched in horror at what was transpiring. #NeverForget https://youtu.be/LsGcIkevyHM?si=5-GDQOKSWl9HbMng11 Sep 2026 14:24 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvargpf5jc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mv2gx6xtus2mIt's the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, & I'm looking around our home & seeing evidence of how Trek has been with me my whole life - books I still own from after the show ended & we fans *hoped* for another series (or even a movie!), signed photos on our wall from 1970s conventions, etc. #StarTrek09 Sep 2026 02:01 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv2gx6xtus2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3muze256cmc2nVery happy to see this! Well deserved and long overdue. Dorothea Bate was the first woman employee of the Natural History Museum @nhm-london.bsky.social , where she started at age 19 & then continued to work for 50 years. She became Curator of Ice Age birds and mammals in 1924. #MuseumMonday https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2zx1v8ye3o08 Sep 2026 15:36 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3muze256cmc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3muy6tohm6s2rThe idea that the oldest natural history museum in the US is closing its doors, due to poor management & limited foresight, just shy of their bicentennial celebration is simply appalling. There is simply no legitimate excuse. This is a failure of vision and competence from Drexel University. Shame. [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Sep 2026 04:30 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3muy6tohm6s2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3munjvgen722zThis legal action is so good to see. The illegal land grab by the current US administration, & the conservative Utah politicians supporting this harmful action, will dramatically & adversely impact numerous significant fossil resources as well as multiple cultural & sacred Indigenous sites. 🦖🧪 [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Sep 2026 22:49 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3munjvgen722zhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3muhvgt7t7c26Solid article. And Cary @doublebeam.bsky.social likely isn't wrong in his prediction. (In fact, it has already happened, just not over a dinosaur; paleontologist Charles Repenning was murdered in his home in January 2005 by burglars looking to steal fossils among other things.) [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 Sep 2026 17:00 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3muhvgt7t7c26https://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mu64n63dn222For #FossilFriday: sharing this thread from paleontologist Andy Farke, who emphasizes the critical importance of *basic fossil studies* in providing the foundation for larger-scale "Big Data" investigations. Field and collections work is so, so very critical to the science. 🧪 [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Aug 2026 19:42 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu64n63dn222https://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mtmmhkmjkk2dFor #FossilFriday: a skull of the extinct horse Equus scotti under study in the collections at the Western Science Center in Hemet, California, US. The fossil was recently recovered from Pleistocene sediments (~ 500 ka) in Murrieta, CA, US, & will be showcased at the WSC's annual PaleoCon event. 🐎🧪21 Aug 2026 20:37 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtmmhkmjkk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mthvts7qyk2kOne of the greatest live albums ever released (in my opinion) came out 52 years ago today, on 19 August 1974. Recorded in February 1974 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, US, it captured the group at the height of their success. It even reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200! #ELP19 Aug 2026 23:42 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mthvts7qyk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mtcbdh3mqc2iIt's Black Cat Appreciation Day! Boris and Zorro want you all to be celebrating. (Apparently black cats have lower adoption rates, due to silly superstitions; we're so, *so* happy not to be so foolish, 'cause it means we have these two loves in our lives.) #BlackCatAppreciationDay #CatsOfBluesky17 Aug 2026 17:51 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtcbdh3mqc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mta7ehmwfk2vDescribe your musical taste in three artists, no genres: 1.) Emerson, Lake, & Palmer 2.) Jethro Tull 3.) John Williams [contains quote post or other embedded content]16 Aug 2026 22:11 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mta7ehmwfk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mssqfzefcc2b [contains quote post or other embedded content]11 Aug 2026 13:39 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mssqfzefcc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3msr5h7kkp22bJackie the bald eagle from Big Bear has died after illness from an unknown cause, and I am in tears.10 Aug 2026 22:27 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msr5h7kkp22bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mslkuvbfwk2bIt's a very special #Caturday since today is also International Cat Day! In honor of this auspicious occasion, here's the whole clowder (including our outdoor kitties) wishing all who celebrate a terrific day! #InternationalCatDay #CatsOfBluesky08 Aug 2026 17:11 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mslkuvbfwk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3msbcqpccp22eToday is "Soft Rains Day" for those who remember this haunting 1950 Ray Bradbury piece. It's classic Bradbury, eerily accurate w/ its predictions in some respects (looking at you, Alexa), and well worth a few moments of your day to read if you're so inclined. [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Aug 2026 15:19 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3msbcqpccp22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mrnjbs7p2c2u [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Jul 2026 18:22 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrnjbs7p2c2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mrlwtfoqac2yWithout saying your age, what is your favorite movie from the year you turned 18? [contains quote post or other embedded content]27 Jul 2026 03:20 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrlwtfoqac2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mqjvbmsw422bThis loss hurts. Sam Neill was a tremendous actor and, by all measures, a terrific human being, warm & caring & charming & funny. So many of my colleagues were inspired by his performance in Jurassic Park; I first watched him ten years earlier in the British series Reilly: Ace of Spies. RIP. 😔13 Jul 2026 14:21 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqjvbmsw422bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mqfexbswfs2bBuzz is not terribly motivated for the weekend. #Caturday #CatsOfBluesky11 Jul 2026 19:18 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqfexbswfs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/captainfossil.bsky.social/post/3mqcuvxhjbs25For #FossilFriday: posing with fossil bison skull from Orange County, California at the Ralph B. Clark Interpretive Center in Buena Park, CA. Bison were among the most abundant large mammals in late Pleistocene SoCal (& the rest of North America), but their remains from "the OC" need more study. 🧪10 Jul 2026 19:26 +0000at://did:plc:qwthdfm4alszd2o7t7ppczxp/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqcuvxhjbs25