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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

@coastalpaleo.bsky.social

4.6K followers 1.1K following 1.9K posts

Marine mammal paleontologist, artist, snorkeler, beachcomber, tidepool enthusiast. Blog: www.coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · Aug 27

New #watercolor - the skull that launched a thousand papers - Aetiocetus weltoni, the ~25 myo toothed baleen whale that likely had teeth and baleen - from the Oligocene of Oregon. I started this last winter and only finally finished it yesterday. 🐡 🦖🐬 #sciart #whaleontology #whalewednesday #art

A watercolor painting of a toothed baleen whale skull in side view. The jaws are closed, and the skull has a rather large eye socket; the nose is still quite far out on the snout. There are a series of mostly conical teeth that interlock like a crocodile.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Curlew Action @curlewaction.bsky.social · 2d

Today (date), the Slender-billed Curlew was declared extinct. The first bird extinction on mainland Europe in 500 years — on our watch. Extinction is final. No going back. Think about that.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Danny Anduza @paleontologizing.bsky.social · 7h

In the middle of a dozen other projects, I've been working on a life-sized, 3D-printed vaquita porpoise for @kaseysnow.bsky.social to show off at #TwitchCon 🐬

🤞🏽 Cross your fingers I have enough time to paint it properly before I fly out on Wednesday 🤞🏽

Photo of me holding a life-sized vaquita porpoise 3D print in my arms. It's still unpainted, so the bright white-colored plastic filament makes it look almost like a tiny, 1-meter-long beluga

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

StarCatcher 🇨🇦 @starcatcherjohn.bsky.social · 5h

The Pleiades (M45) AKA the Seven Sisters, in the northwest constellation Taurus. It is also the inspiration for the Subaru logo.

Shot taken on 2025-10-11 from my backyard.

🔭 William Optics Pleiades 111
📷 ZWO ASI 2600
Total exposure: 45 x 120s (1h30)

#Astrophotography #Space #DeepSpace #Astronomy

The Pleiades also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an asterism of an open star cluster containing young B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light-years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and the nearest Messier object to Earth, being the most obvious star cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It contains the reflection nebulae NGC 1432, an HII region, and NGC 1435, known as the Merope Nebula. Around 2330 BC the Pleiades marked the vernal point. Due to the brightness of its stars, the Pleiades is viewable from most areas on Earth, even in locations with significant light pollution.

The cluster is dominated by hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be leftover material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately 18 km/s relative to the stars in the cluster.

Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that once resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for approximately another 250 million years, after which the clustering will be lost due to gravitational interactions with the galactic neighbourhood.

Together with the open star cluster of the Hyades, the Pleiades form the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic. The Pleiades have been said to "resemble a tiny dipper," and should not be confused with the "Little Dipper," or Ursa Minor.

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Marwella Zhang @marwellaspaceart.bsky.social · 9h

#SpacetoberChallenge Day 12 - Eclipse

The oil painting of September 2025 Total Lunar Eclipse, based on the photo that I took.
Accompanied by my DIY astronaut on the moon candle.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

でんか @k-hermit.com · 5h

🐚・・ #invertebrates

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · 21d

Everyone could use a reminder that the idea behind our system of government is that we cede some of our power to it in exchange for it working on our behalf. When it stops doing that it becomes illegitimate and must be changed. The idea that the people can "betray" a government organ is perverse

David Noll @david.noll.org · 21d

In response to California passing a law limiting law enforcement officers' ability to conceal their identities, the president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California contends that police are not subject to democratic control.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

Brian R. Marvel, the president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, which represents over 87,000 public safety officers, said he was outraged by the passage of the law.

He said in a statement that he believed that California did not have the authority to regulate federal agents, so it would ultimately apply only to local law enforcement officers, which he called a “troubling betrayal that California’s local law enforcement community will not soon forget.” He said that limiting face coverings and opening officers up to prosecution would most likely hurt recruitment and drive officers from the state.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Alex Kain @tdcpresents.bsky.social · 1d

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 13h

We also had some fantastic out-in-the-open lobster sightings! Usually these guys are tucked inside crevices and you just see their face and antennae, but we saw several out and about in broad daylight. California spiny lobster, Panulirus interruptus. In the last 2 pics it's eating a mussel!🤿🦑🦀

A California spiny lobster on a flat, algae covered slab; it's a tan/brown color, with black and orange striped legs, very long antennae with purplish bases.

A California spiny lobster on a sandy bottom in a deep tide pool channel; it's a tan/brown color, with black and orange striped legs, very long antennae with purplish bases. It is eating a california mussel.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Rick Caruso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · 1d

Thinking again about how Hammond “spared no expense” but made his employees use vending machines

Rick Caruso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · Dec 23

Yeah I think that’s reasonable, ultimately the villain of JP isn’t Nedry but Hammond’s arrogance. JP isn’t *not* a workers’ rights movie.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Claire Zagorski, MSc, EMT-P @clairezagorski.bsky.social · 1d

A student on TikTok has been documenting her journey with a professor who “wrote” the anatomy textbook and it’s all a bunch of AI hallucinations.

She’s saying that, understandably, the students are doing super poorly!

Behold what we’re teaching the healthcare professionals of tomorrow:

A diagram of the bones and (some) deep muscles of the hand and forearm. AI says that we only have four digits. It’s also identified a tendon as the median nerve, another tendon as the ulnar nerve, among other issues.

An AI generated diagram of the muscles of the neck. It hallucinated the “ennocleidomasid” muscle, and the “anterior scalpalin muscle”.

An AI generated diagram of the muscles of the lateral thigh. It says that the gluteus Maximus (the big juicy butt muscle) is on the anterior side. It also points to the quadriceps muscle and says “attattment”. It also says that the same structure is the tibia AND the deep fascia of the leg.

An AI generated diagram of the bones of the hand and forearm. This time AI says we have 6 digits. It also says that the radius is the ulnar artery. Among other many issues.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Sarcastic Shark Art @sarcasticsharkart.bsky.social · 1d

Another shark from the OG series is this adorable little gal. 🦈🤙💙

The Port Jackson Shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) has spines or "horns" on the front of the dorsal fins.

#shark #marinelife #sciart #nature #fish #fishart #animal #animalart #ArtYear

Port Jackson Shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) illustration in marker and Prismacolor on Canson charcoal paper.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Emil L’Amour @vireosy.bsky.social · 1d

zebra shark, adult and juvenile

(Swim On 9, 2023) #art #sciart 🎨🦑🦈

$Illustration of a juvenile and adult zebra shark swimming near the ocean floor. Sunlight streams through the water, light refracting onto the sand and backs of each shark. The adult swims below in a gentle curve while the juvenile swims overhead, demonstrating the black and white stripes that earned this shark its name.$

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

A few more shots of the baby octopus 🥰🦑🦀

A baby octopus in a tidepool; it's light tan with many visible chromatophores. Its tentacles are wrapped around backwards, and it's sitting between a couple of mussel shells on some sand grains.

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

We also saw this ~ 1 cm wide baby octopus in a tidepool! Look at HOW BIG the sand grains are in these photos! It was so damn cute 🥹 Probably (but uncertainly) a recently hatched two spot octopus, Octopus bimaculoides. 🦀🦑

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Museum of the Rockies @museumoftherockies.bsky.social · 2d

Happy #FossilFriday! Meet Brontotholus harmoni (MOR 480), a new pachycephalosaurid from the Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana. Named after former MOR Chief Preparator Bob Harmon. Bronotoholus was named this week in a @ZoolJLinnSoc paper by MSU alumnus @doublebeam and colleagues.

Fossilized dome of Brontotholus harmoni, a large pachycephalosaurid dinosaur from the Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana, showing its rounded, textured skull surface displayed against a dark background.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 2d

that johnson is more terrified of seating a duly elected democrat who could force an epstein vote than having the entire government shut down really makes me wonder about that epstein vote tbh

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 2d

Lovely illustration! I did a watercolor of the specimen a few years ago. 🐡

A small watercolor painting of the holotype skull of Australopithecus sediba; it looks very human but has a slightly smaller braincase, a slight brow ridge, and a more prognathic snout and sloping face; the skull is a light orange brown, is missing a few teeth, and looking to the left side; the eye sockets and naris are filled with gray limestone.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Milo Gaillard @milogaillard2.bsky.social · 2d

#FossilFriday I decided to try bring awareness to a dinosaur from where I live: California. Enter Augustynolophus morrisi. Discovered in the Moreno Formation, this hadrosaur lived sometime around 70-66 million years ago, and is the state dinosaur of California. 1/2

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

John Hawks @johnhawks.net · 2d

MH1, the ”skull in the rock”, represents a child of between 8 and 11 years of age belonging to the species Australopithecus sediba. This and other fossils from Malapa, South Africa, are approximately 2 million years old. #inktober

Line drawing of a skull of Australopithecus still partially embedded in rock, viewed from right front

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

cenofreak88.bsky.social @cenofreak88.bsky.social · 2d

Second installment of #gomphtober2025 skeleton of gomphotherium from Mt. Diablo, California. Was on display at UC Berkeley, don't know if it still is.

#fossilfriday #prehistoriccalifornia #gomphotherium #cenozoic #miocene #elephant #fossil

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Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 2d

A 126,000-year-old butt-drag just made fossil history.
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.

Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4

The 126,000-Year-Old Butt-Drag That Rewrote What Counts as a Fossil

How a small animal’s odd habit turned into one of the most unexpected stories ever preserved in stone Some discoveries make headlines because they’re dramatic: new...

climateages.com

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Sarah Boessenecker, MSc. 🏛️🔭 @tetrameryx.bsky.social · 2d

This cat KNOWS he's pretty, and loves to ham it up for pictures 🖤🤍@coastalpaleo.bsky.social

Large long haired black and white cat posing for a picture next to a sliding door

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 2d

I know people personally, tenured and not, who have endured horrendous harassment that has required campus security walking them to and from class or their cars, having other people handle their email to filter out threats, and people showing up at their offices or calling repeatedly.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 2d

3. Lecturer: this position is somewhat more stable in that you are salaried/have benefits and it is "permanent" but only insofar as they keep renewing your contract indefinitely. Sometimes referred to as a "teaching professor." You are paid less and have a bigger teaching load than TT (tenure track)

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 2d

2. An adjunct position means that you get hired for a class or several but have zero benefits, get paid only for the class, and zero protection.

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