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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

@deadbovids.bsky.social

2.2K followers 500 following 330 posts

SUNY Oneonta Assistant Professor studying large mammal evolution, ecology, and extinction in Kenya 🇰🇪 Paleontologist, anthropologist, naturalist, forager, teacher. Views my own 🏳️‍🌈 https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xAy15BUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · Dec 31

New Article Alert! doi.org/10.1111/ele....

In our newly published paper in Ecology Letters, we use serially sampled strontium and carbon isotopes from 18 species of antelope, buffalo, and zebra from the Last Glacial Period of Kenya to reconstruct herbivore behavior in the Late Pleistocene.
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Non‐Analog Behaviour of Eastern African Herbivore Communities During the Last Glacial Period

Drawing from serially-sampled stable isotope measurements from 18 Kenyan large herbivore species from the Last Glacial Period (LGP), we evaluate how diet, diet-switching, and migration compare to obs...

doi.org

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7h

I actively promote Wikipedia as a source now (not for citing, but in general) for students because it's more accurate than 95% of what's out there by googling or reading AI search results only. Wikipedia was my best teacher as a 10 year old; I guess it's going to have to do for today's 20 year olds.

Micah @rincewind.run · 22d

we have gone from a world in which we were told not to cite wikipedia because it was unreliable to a world where wikipedia might be the only reliable source left on the internet and we all owe a lot to the pedantic nerds who got us there

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 22d

for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 9h

Congrats Marta!

Marta Mirazon Lahr @martamlahr.bsky.social · 9h

Today was the ceremony for new fellows at the #BritishAcademy - it was wonderful 🤩. I am thrilled and so grateful to the colleagues who nominated me, elected me, and the many colleagues, students, friends, our kids & family, & specially Rob 😍 who have so enriched my life and career ❤️

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 13h

yearly reminder to people insisting that we view Christopher Columbus as "a man of his time" that *the people responsible for the Spanish Inquisition* thought Columbus was out of pocket

Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 15h

Christopher Columbus was dragged back to Spain in chains by a crusading knight, convicted of tyranny and immeasurable cruelty, pardoned by Isabella but banned from returning to Hispaniola.

Fuck Columbus.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Eman Abdelhadi @emanabdelhadi.bsky.social · 1d

If you don’t see the link between ICE and the IDF, you haven’t been paying attention. We are being asked to accept a world where whole communities are made disposable and marked for disappearance. If we accept that for anyone, no one is safe anywhere.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 1d

Sweater Weather

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Jeffrey Heilveil (he/him) @nigronia.bsky.social · 1d

June 11 -27, 2026, I'm teaching a 16-day field course on stream ecology. It's heavily focused on independent research projects, so they get some exposure to field research. Open to students from any institution. DM with your email if you want a poster to send your students. #Ecology #PUI #insects

Students learning to electrofish in a small stream in the woods.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

mossworm.bsky.social @mossworm.bsky.social · 3d

still amazing to me the number of movies, games, etc. which have Venus Flytrap-based creatures in some form compared to the actual native range of Venus Flytrap, which is like, the great untamed jungles of a few wet pine savannas in North Carolina

map illustrating the native range of Venus Flytrap plants, just a little half circle around coastal North and South Carolina in USA

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 3d

Two things that are simultaneously true:
1. We're not going to limit global warming to 1.5°C. We've missed every goal and deadline, and we're going to blow past that deadline.
2. There is still hope for every other target, and we can focus on them. So let's aim for 1.6, or 1.8, or 2°. #ClimateChange

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 3d

Federal agents aren’t trying to keep the peace. They want violence to escalate so that Trump can declare martial law.

They shot a reverend in the head with pepper balls while he was praying in front of an ICE facility. If that doesn’t tell you where we are as a country, nothing will.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 3d

Like a canary in coal mine…

More than half of world’s bird species in decline, as leaders meet on extinction crisis

Biodiversity losses are growing, the IUCN reports as summit opens, but green turtle’s recovery ‘reminds us conservation works’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 3d

🧪🦣🏺 Strong criticisms of recent study claiming super-ancient origin forlineage leading to H. sapiens, which is contradicted by DNA that points strongly to a last common ancestor more like 600,000 years ago rather than +1 million.
Also, geopolitics & nationalism often intersect with #HumanOrigins

Manuel Will @manuelwill.bsky.social · 3d

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen? | via BR24
br.de/nachrichten/... @br24.de
#Evolution #Anthropology

Fossiler Schädel: Homo sapiens viel älter als angenommen?

Bisher waren Forschende sich weitgehend einig: Der Homo sapiens hat sich einst in Afrika entwickelt und von dort aus verbreitet. Eine neue Studie über die Rekonstruktion eines fossilen Schädels aus Ch...

br.de

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 3d

With classes in mid session, I finally have time to get back to research! At the moment, I'm working on naming a new bovid (antelope) species from the Pleistocene of South Africa! Stay tuned 👀 #FossilFriday

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Mark Witton @markwitton.bsky.social · 3d

Quick #FossilFriday #paleoart post: a 2025 redo of my 2019 take on the giant #deer Megaloceros. Palaeolithic art captures some aspects of Megaloceros appearance but the details are not unambiguous: when is a line across a body a stripe, when is it a boundary between colour regions?

Three Megaloceros, a stag, doe and fawn, in front of an ice age landscape, painted in 2025. The bodies of the adults have large blocks of colour, without prominent stripes.

Three Megaloceros, a stag, doe and fawn, in front of an ice age landscape, painted in 2019. The body of the stag has a dark stripe extending from the shoulder to the thigh.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Owen Goodchild @paleowen.bsky.social · 3d

#FossilFriday the mandible of Notiomastodon platensis, one of the last gomphothere-grade proboscideans from the Pleistocene of Argentina.

Lateral view of a dhort dark brown mandible with a highly worn second molar and a third molar in place. The coronoid process and condyle are damaged.

Occlusal view of a dark brown short mandible showing a highly worn 2nd molar and a less worn 3rd molar (wisdom tooth) with 5 lophids (ridge-crests)

Close up on the 3rd lower molar (wisdom tooth) of Notiomastodon showing wrinkled enamel and double trefoil wear patterns. There are five ridge crests and a small heel.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 4d

BioAnth friends--I have an awesome student looking for field school or research opportunities for this Winter or Summer in Primatology, Paleoecology, or Paleoanthropology--I know the typical programs, but please let me know if you know of any programs accepting students!

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 4d

The sauce is just a blend of cooked wild carrot greens, ground Hickory nuts, and and toasted Sumac in oil

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 5d

Emotional support foraging!
Trout with hickory nut, wild carrot, and sumac topping and acorn tortillas

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 5d

Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone!

www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin

Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed

www.scientificamerican.com

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 5d

I can’t believe I have to say this, but historically, masked men who kidnap families in the middle of the night are usually not the good guys.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 6d

Great start--some incremental efforts til we can have Hogg 2036!

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Guilherme Castro @guivcastro.bsky.social · 6d

I just finished an exciting full year collecting data for my PhD and I wrote a quick blog post on @jappliedecology.bsky.social about why it matters🌍

@britishecologicalsociety.org
appliedecologistsblog.com/2025/10/07/f...

Field Diaries: Using remote sensing to help restore landscapes

In our ‘Field Diaries’ series, The Applied Ecologist is sharing stories from a range of different fieldwork experiences. In this post Guilherme Castro shares his research on using remote sensing to…

appliedecologistsblog.com

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Adrian Viliami Bell @avbell.bsky.social · 7d

I'm co-directing an independent film w/ Ella Warnick about marine foraging, environmental adaptation, & family in Tonga, trailer:

youtu.be/3ttrOkX-esU?...

Still not finished! I have a job already, but to finish this film please support my young, up-and-coming co-director:

gofund.me/d9b24a5af

Fatongia | Official Trailer

YouTube video by Ella Warnick

youtu.be

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7d

Support your local library!

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 7d

😭

IG newberlinlibrary

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7d

This is really cool!

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7d

Not a bad view out my office window