@jackdashby.bsky.social
Award-winning author #PlatypusMatters & #NaturesMemory. Assistant Director of @ZoologyMuseum.bsky.social at Cambridge Uni. President of the Society for the History of Natural History. Australian mammal nerd. He/him. Own views.
This story is a good example of why it is so difficult to communicate genuine science to the public. Despite every scientist not on the company payroll decrying it as a bogus and unscientific project, the story presents it as some sort of both-sides issue.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Not as far as I know, I'm afraid, but if the organisers do record it, I'll try and remember to let you know.
How do natural history #museums help save the world?
Next Thursday @drbeldavis.bsky.social & I will explore how collections help tackle biodiversity loss & climate change today, as well as historical legacies behind these museums.
Part of Birkbeck's Climate Festival:
www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
Typically, taxidermists hid animal genitalia to spare the viewers' blushes, but bizarrely it's incredibly common to find that a #taxidermy #thylacine's balls are made very prominent. Here's one at @wamuseum.bsky.social.
This is particularly odd as male #thylacines had a little pouch to keep them in.
If you haven't taken a break from doomscrolling yet today, it's probably time. Go look at pictures of baby wombats for a while.
Wombats are pretty big animals - almost a metre long - but Tasmanian buttongrass tussocks make them look tiny.
#WombatWednesday #fieldwork #Tasmania #wombats #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombat
Here's an awesome natural history humanities PhD opportunity, working with Cambridge University Library & our insect & archive collections here at @zoologymuseum.bsky.social, exploring the links between entomology, life writing & environmental change. Please share!
www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/...
Many of the objects contain materials from culturally important animals. The chiefs' teeth in the Kãnoa ('awa bowl) are boar tusks; the Kūpe'e niho 'ilio (dance leglet) is made from dog teeth & shells: the teeth in the Akua hulu manu (feathered gods, collected on Capt Cook's third voyage) are dog.
The British Museum's Hawai'i exhibition is fascinating, with many stunning objects made from millions of tiny feathers. There could have been more about the #birds that provided the feathers. The yellows are from 'ō'ō - driven to #extinction by habitat loss, introduced disease and hunting.
The #platypus has solved the key flaw of mammal teeth - that they can't be replaced*: #platypuses got rid of teeth. Instead they have horny pads to smash the crayfish & larvae they eat. As they wear down, they just regrow like fingernails.
*Unless you're a nabarlek, a rock-wallaby with endless teeth
Happy #WorldBookDay!
My children's book WILD encourages kids to spot similar features in completely different groups of animals, and to wonder why. Why are so many animals spiky?🦔🦔 Or have white bellies and black backs?🐧🐳Or paddles?🦭🦆 Or eyes on tops of their heads?🐊🦫🦛 @worldbookdayuk.bsky.social!
loving this #wombat 🤸♂️ thanks @jackdashby.bsky.social
Found a natural anvil in the woods: a root that's being used as a hard surface to smash open acorns against. I'm guessing this is a Jay's dinner table, unless anyone knows different?
#NoticeNature #UKwildlife #birds
It’s Wednesday. Here’s your wombat.
Baby #wombats (wombatlets) are particularly adorable when they're still in their shaped-like-a-potato phase.
#WombatWednesday #fieldwork #Tasmania #wombat #MammalWatching #WildOz
Take my word for this - don't try playing poker with a wombat.
No, not today (I post #WombatWednesday pics or vids each week, but I'm typically only in Tasmania for a month or so each year so I have to rely on my stored wombat collection for the rest of the time)
Just a #wombat clearing away the snow to chomp on the grass below.
#WombatWednesday #fieldwork #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombats
Two of the UK's great #conservation success stories: both #birds in this video were extinct in England.
White storks are now breeding here at @kneppwilding.bsky.social, and red kites are so common that I see them everyday (and I get told off by @flygirlnhm.bsky.social for being blasé about them).
It was incredible to see the white storks bickering over a giant nest at @kneppwilding.bsky.social with @flygirlnhm.bsky.social. This patch of English farmland is being converted into a genuine haven for returning wildlife, including these mega-birds. #rewilding #UKwildlife #birds #birding
Fantastic footage !! Go the #platypus …
Thanks @jackdashby.bsky.social for sharing
#TimelineCleanse
Wish I was there
Wombats have the largest brain of any #marsupial. Their blank expressions are just a reflection of the fact that they know they can outsmart you.🧠
#WombatWednesday #fieldwork #Tasmania #wombats #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombat
It's a bloomin' outrage.
Possibly the coolest chess set that ever existed: the bishop's a #platypus, the rook's a #koala, the queen's an emu, the king's a kangaroo, the knight's a frilled lizard, and the pawns are cockatoos. All solid hand-painted pieces. G'day [check] mate. 🇦🇺♟️🐨🦘♟️🇦🇺 #WildOz
Not many animals are the shape of an #echidna, which is a shame.
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #echidnas
This is tomorrow (Thursday) 📅
For any museum nerds (and museum-sceptics), do come along.
Oh to live the life of a wombat!
We're excited to be supporting the Early Career Researcher Symposium from @sochistnathist.bsky.social.
Taking place on 19 February, the programme showcases research into the study of natural history through time, done by early career researchers across the globe.
Book:
The glorious realm where #wombats reign.
#WombatWednesday #Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #wombat