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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · 11d

Friday is definitely quieter but I don't think Monday is any more (S Berks / Surrey).

Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · 13d

What do you mean I could have been fixing my socks like this the whole time?! I thought they'd just unravel down into nothing

The top of some bright purple socks with mushrooms on with the elastic bit cut off (they are on a person's leg and they're wearing jeans)

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · 16d

Hello Tâf! I am also wincing at your unprotected toes, please don't end up in A&E again

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · 16d

I think it's incredible infographic day on the internet because this is excellent

gquaggiotto.bsky.social @gquaggiotto.bsky.social · 17d

"After the fall of the Roman Empire, elephants virtually disappeared from Western Europe. Since there was no real knowledge of how the animal looked, illustrators had to rely on oral and written transmissions to morphologically reconstruct the elephant" www.uliwestphal.de/elephas-anth...

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Reposted by Laura Jennings

Tim O'Connell @tinosaurs.bsky.social · 18d

I still think this #SciComm deserves a #Pulitzer.

#InsectApocalypse
www.reuters.com/graphics/GLO...

Insect populations are declining at an unprecedented rate

The most diverse group of organisms on the planet are in trouble and the consequences could be dire.

www.reuters.com

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · 19d

These are great though, I hope editors would let you use them

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Reposted by Laura Jennings

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 25d

Now that it’s the time of year when the obscurely-funded right wing Restore Trust, a private company, try once again to take over the National Trust, my annual reminder of what they want to do with our history & heritage.

blogs.sussex.ac.uk/snapshotsofe...

Culture Warriors’ Attacks on the National Trust

Charles Moore uses the Spectator of 3 June to rally support for a rebel National Trust group. Calling themselves Restore Trust, this group of disaffected members and former members bemoan the insti…

blogs.sussex.ac.uk

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Reposted by Laura Jennings

Riley Black 🦕 🏳️‍⚧️ @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 29d

I only just heard of What’s Eating Your Collection? and it’s so fascinating.

Unless you’re a collections manager, you have no idea the constant effort required to conserve what’s placed in a museum’s care.

What's Eating Your Collection?

www.whatseatingyourcollection.com

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Reposted by Laura Jennings

Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · Sep 10

oh crap. MNHN-the Paris Natural History Museum paralyzed by cyber-attack! If you've been unable to access their database, website or other resources, here is why.. www.sortiraparis.com/en/news/in-p...

Paris: cyber-attack hits Natural History Museum, cancels exhibition

The massive cyberattack that has paralyzed the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris's 5th arrondissement since late July 2025 has forced the institution to cancel the "Tropical Autumn: Palms,...

www.sortiraparis.com

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Sep 7

I'm looking forward to looking at my study areas in New Guinea and the Lesser Sunda islands when this comes out

Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · Sep 5

Only a pre-print for now, but after 4 years of hard work I couldn't resist sharing this!

The Global Canopy Atlas: analysis-ready maps of 3D structure for the world's woody ecosystems

📜: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Huge team effort led by the brilliant Fabian Fischer!

Global distribution of forest landscapes covered by airborne LiDAR

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Sep 5

Beautiful glowing birds of paradise

Dan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · Sep 3

Oh word? Birds-of-paradise are just fluorescing left and right now? Goddamn! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Sep 5

It's been a great week for weird biology: ants defying the species concept, fluorescing birds of paradise and now forehead teeth in ratfish

Kate Wong @katewong.bsky.social · Sep 4

Behold the gloriously weird Spotted Ratfish. It has teeth on its forehead for sex. The teeth line a cartilaginous appendage called a tenaculum that in males can be erected and used to grasp a female during mating 🧪

Dr. Karly E. Cohen @karlycohen.bsky.social · Sep 4

New paper is officially out!
Ratfish have a second jaw on their foreheads - CT + histology show they’re real teeth, built from the same tissues and signals as oral teeth.

www.washington.edu/news/2025/09...

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Reposted by Laura Jennings

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · Sep 4

So this ant...can give birth to male clones of its own species AND of a different species... then mates with the male clones of the other species to produce hybrid workers...and mates with males of its own species to produce new queens... 🐜
Yo these ants are wildin'
🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature

In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

www.nature.com

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 27

Blackberries and maybe Hieracium as well 😂

Dan Gates @dangatesj.bsky.social · Aug 27

Speaking as a bona fide biology expert person who mostly just fiddles with computers all day: the problem is mostly blackberries and if you’re willing ignore them it’s not too bad

Matthew Downhour @matthewdownhour.bsky.social · Aug 27

The fact that no one can give a coherent definition of ‘species’ is also extremely troubling

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 26

Very good piece on the ableism of 'nature cure' memoirs

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · Aug 26

I keep getting asked for my salty thoughts about the Salt Path as my position on nature cure narratives is v clear! A mere fraction of those thoughts published here @literaryhub.bsky.social, with thanks to @bookwormvaught.bsky.social and @nicwilson.bsky.social for their earlier pieces linked below.

Nature is Not Going to Cure You: On Raynor Winn’s Fabricated Memoir

Like many writers, I have been following the unfolding revelations about Raynor Winn and The Salt Path with great interest, and a degree of self-interest. I am a memoirist and nature writer, and I …

lithub.com

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 26

Cone snail... beautiful and deadly

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 24

Sorry for your loss

Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 22

It's looking a bit drought-stricken like everywhere else but still lovely

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 22

Hope you enjoy!

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Reposted by Laura Jennings

Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · Aug 19

I am obsessed with this plant.

A species of cucumber, it fruits up to 90cm UNDERGROUND. Why does it do this? Because the only animals known to eat them are AARDVARKS 🤯

THAT'S RIGHT, THIS IS AN AARVARK CUCUMBER. And I got my hands on a specime for the @perfect-specimen.bsky.social 🌿🎙️🧪

A dried plant specimen. It is a long vine, with a few large leaves coming off its side.

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 13

In botany too, it's nearly impossible to have a career researching just one geographic region or group of plants

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Aug 10

Amazing, I had no idea there was more than 1 species of elephant bird and your artwork is gorgeous

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Jul 26

A joy to see, thanks for sharing

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Jul 26

Immaculate fuzzy friend

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Laura Jennings @botanistlaura.bsky.social · Jul 23

If you get blueberries, get 2 plants, you will get more blueberries if they can cross-pollinate