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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 ™️

Rick Caruso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · 14h

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 · 23h

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 · 22h

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 · 22h

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.

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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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Museum of the Rockies @museumoftherockies.bsky.social · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

#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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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 · 1d

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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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 1d

Definitions: 1. A contract position means you get to stay for somewhere between 2 and 6 semesters (sometimes more in some cases) and get benefits for that time but then you are out on your butt, too bad and so sad.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Lauren MacIvor Thompson @lmacthompson1.bsky.social · 1d

That is also why you see so many universities hiring only contract, adjunct, or lecturer positions, all positions that have zero protection for faculty who might get threatened for their research, and the uni can fire them at will. To be clear, Dr. Bray is NOT fired, he left for his/family's safety.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 2d

The Peale mastodon at the National Portrait Gallery in 2021.

It’s the 1st mounted fossil skeleton displayed in the US (1805), and 2nd worldwide. Its original viewers didn’t know about evolution. Even extinction was a new concept. More fossils interpreted as history and art, please! #FossilFriday

Mastodon skeleton with long tusks on a gravel bed between two white columns in an art gallery. Seen from the front.

Same from driver side rear view. Red curtain entrance to exhibit is visible from
This angle

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

this one's actually an odontocete! an archaeo-odontocete, if you will!

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

#fossilfriday I find early whale and dolphin teeth to be quite beautiful and unusual. This is a lower molar of an extinct, as-yet unnamed simocetid dolphin (?Olympicetus) from the early Oligocene Makah Formation of Washington, USA. Acid prepared; collected by Jim Goedert. 🦖🐬 #whaleontology

A well-preserved molar of an extinct dolphin with dark brown enamel and a tan root; the crown is triangular with several accessory cusps. The lingual side has several short vertical ridges. The mesial edge of the tooth is serrated.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

David Clark @clarkeocrinus.bsky.social · 3d

This is a Gennaeocrinus mourantae in my collection. It's an absolutely stunning 3D crinoid.

#SciArt #FossilFriday

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

Dr Suresh Singh @palaeosingh.bsky.social · 2d

A couple snapshots of an ancient apex predator for this #FossilFriday - presenting the fossil teeth & snout of an #Erythrosuchus africanus, the big-headed, hypercarnivorous archosauromorph from the Early-Mid #Triassic of South Africa 🇿🇦

#Paleontology #Science

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Isolated teeth of Erythrosuchus africanus from the collections of the Natural History Museum UK.

The tip of the snout of Erythrosuchus africanus from the collections of the Natural History Museum UK.

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Reposted by Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️

The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 2d

A new long & narrow-snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover during an undersampled Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) interval onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #FossilFriday @morphobank.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology

Photograph of the holotype and only known specimen of the hauffiopterygian leptonectid, Xiphodracon goldencapensis (ROM VP52596) from Golden Cap, between Charmouth and Seatown, Dorset, UK. The skeleton is exposed in ventrolateral view. The skull has been fully prepared free of matrix whereas most of the skeleton is still in matrix. The left (upper) forefin has been prepared so that it is
three-dimensionally preserved and projects upwards. Scale bar (lower left) is 20 cm.

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