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extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Ben Miller
@extinctmonsters.bsky.social
4.2K followers 830 following 3K posts
Mostly posts about the art history of paleontology in museums. Exhibit developer at the Field Museum, opinions my own. he/him

Website: extinctmonsters.net
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extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · Nov 19
I’m closing in on 2k followers (thanks!) so I think I should clarify what I mean in my profile when I say the fun dinosaur pictures I post are a form of art history (besides wanting to sound elitist or something). 🧵
Triceratops skeleton between two T. rex skeletons in a bed of artificial ferns. Photo is taken behind and beneath one of the rexes, so we're looking up through it's lower jaw. Against a blue and purple simulated sky backdrop.
Reposted by Ben Miller
cretaceous-cass.bsky.social
Very special #FossilFriday, pleased to announced that we have a new paper out on reconstructing the ecosystem of Dry Mesa Quarry in the Morrison Formation

We used modern ecological techniques to quantity and model the ecosystem

Feel sorry for the baby Sauropods 😞 🦕🦕

Sergey Krasovskiy +Pedro Salas
January 30, 2026 at 3:10 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
A lot of people on this site are nuts but I genuinely enjoy getting replies from strangers casually dropping the most obscure references 😂
carldershem.bsky.social Carl Dershem @carldershem.bsky.social · 15h
Someone should ask Dr. Barnaby Fulton. 😁
January 30, 2026 at 6:31 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Hmm, sounds like we need a refresher. The issue of whether everyone's favorite long-neck is called Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus (or both) has *nothing* to do with which skull was historically included on museum mounts! 🧵#FossilFriday
Four people (including a brown-haired Mark Norell) on ladders remove model skull from Apatosaurus mounted skeleton
January 30, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
restingdinoface.bsky.social
I’m advising an illustrated paleo book and a significant part of the work has been saying “do not use that reference, it’s ai.”
January 30, 2026 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
kibblesmith.com
Seems like the exact wrong time to look for ways to compromise with Republicans and exactly the right time to go for the jugular and secure the thousand year woke dynasty
sarahposner.bsky.social Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 1d
Pew has Trump's approval at 37%. And:

"Only about a quarter of Americans today (27%) say they support all or most of Trump’s policies and plans, down from 35% when he returned to office last year. That change has come entirely among Republicans."

www.pewresearch.org/politics/202...
Confidence in Trump Dips, and Fewer Now Say They Support His Policies and Plans
Only 27% of Americans say they support all or most of Trump's policies – down since last year, with the change coming entirely among Republicans.
www.pewresearch.org
January 29, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
loamlizzard.bsky.social
Absolutely thrilled to have seen the new Chicago Archaeopteryx exhibit. This specimen never ceases to amaze me. Featuring my fanart of said dead bird.

#chicagoarchaeopteryx #fieldmuseum
January 29, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
mosasaurologist.bsky.social
We finished prep on the Tylosaurus that we excavated in May! 28 linear feet of murder lizard.
Brown bones laid out in anatomical order on canvas sheets
January 29, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
This beautiful woolly rhino skull comes from Belgium. Not much more was recorded about its provenance, because it was effectively bycatch on the 1934 Marshall Field Anthropological Expedition to the Near East.
Black and white photo of rhino skull and jaw mounted together on a post Skull upside down on foam on collections shelf. There are white flecks where the reconstructed plaster portion has chipped.
January 28, 2026 at 4:42 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
This sand thing is exactly the kind of drama I’m here for
January 28, 2026 at 10:32 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
This beautiful woolly rhino skull comes from Belgium. Not much more was recorded about its provenance, because it was effectively bycatch on the 1934 Marshall Field Anthropological Expedition to the Near East.
Black and white photo of rhino skull and jaw mounted together on a post Skull upside down on foam on collections shelf. There are white flecks where the reconstructed plaster portion has chipped.
January 28, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
tomhowarth.bsky.social
Quick reminder to anyone unsure. Yes, the US can still have major cold blasts with record low temperatures in a warming climate. 🧪

Here's why:

(image credit: NOAA)
January 28, 2026 at 12:09 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
The default iphone focal length isn’t doing it complete justice, but this nanmu rex is really something
Articulated green T. rex toy posed so it’s leaning over and biting the horn of a Triceratops model Same green rex, leaning forward to eat a prone Edmontosaurus figure Now rex has his foot up on the side of Triceratops Packaging for the rex toy, who is called Alpha sovereign of the oath
January 26, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
theonetruekat.bsky.social
If you need me, I’m hanging out with the Gilbert’s Skink co-housing community. #herps
Eight tannish-gray skinks occupy small hollows beneath a coverboard.
January 25, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
tetzoo.bsky.social
The Art and Science of #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge ... a new discussion from @skeletoncrewpaleo.bsky.social on YouTube, featuring me and Framestore's Russ and Dorothy youtu.be/IVu9Mfc38Es?...
The Art and Science of Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
YouTube video by Skeleton Crew
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 11:34 AM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
If you've got 20 minutes and some imagination, here's a tour of the new museum/showroom BHIGR is planning in a repurposed winery. The buried lede is that they're planning a room with *seven* mounted rexes (2 original, 5 cast).

Guess this is where that UAE/Stan money is going...
Tour of the Future Museum Building for The Natural History Museum of the Black Hills!
YouTube video by Black Hills Institute of Geological Research
youtu.be
January 23, 2026 at 5:51 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
(sub) #FossilFriday: For a change of pace, here are some mostly-uncataloged remains of aurochs, bison, goats, etc from Jarmo, a 9,000 year-old agricultural village in Iraq. 🐃🦬🐐
Antler/horn sections and an indeterminate small animal skeleton with no head, in trays in a museum drawer. Horn core and various vertebrae in foam trays inside a museum drawer
January 23, 2026 at 4:53 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Gwangi says hey
Gray and black Cuban rock iguana on mulch Wider angle of same dude, now his nose is facing the camera so it looks like he's smily cheekily.
January 22, 2026 at 7:38 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
lousy smarch weather
January 22, 2026 at 4:02 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Interesting approach to allowing students to use ai during an open-laptop exam. Now how do we go about requiring this accountability everywhere? ploum.net/2026-01-19-e...
Tell the professor if you usually use chatbots (ChatGPT/LLM/whatever) when doing research and investigating a subject. You have the choice to use them or not during the exam, but you must decide in advance and inform the professor. Option A: I will not use any chatbot, only traditional web searches. Any use of them will be considered cheating. Option B: I may use a chatbot as it's part of my toolbox. I will then respect the following rules: 1) I will inform the professor each time information come from a chatbot 2) When explaining my answers, I will share the prompts I've used so the professor understands how I use the tool 3) I will identify mistakes in answers from the chatbot and explain why those are mistakes Not following those rules will be considered cheating. Mistakes made by chatbots will be considered more important than honest human mistakes, resulting in the loss of more points. If you use chatbots, you should be held accountable for the output. I thought this was fair. You can use chatbots, but you will be held accountable for it.
January 22, 2026 at 1:52 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
I love buying a used book and discovering gift notes and author inscriptions inside.
Title page of The Sternberg Fossil Hunters. Handwritten above: William D. Moreland family got this chest of drawers from sternberg family 1985 Handwritten note: To Helen Moucard May this volume refresh your memories of Hays and the museum we now know as Sternberg Museum. Katherine Rogers 1993
January 21, 2026 at 11:46 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Check out this cutie: an extinct Myotragus (“mouse goat”) from southern France.
A little skull with horns and big eyes held over an open drawer with trays holding more bones.
January 21, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
susieoftraken.bsky.social
Gorgeous #paleoart: Prototaxites towering over an expanse of early land plants. Great work @matt-humpage.bsky.social!
transitionalform.bsky.social Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 9d
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
January 21, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Ben Miller
rosemarymosco.com
How to get into nature.
A four-panel comic titled "how to get into nature". In panel 1, a person kneels in the woods, looking down at a red-backed salamander, and the text says "notice a living thing." In panel 2, the text says "notice some other things that live near it," and there's a starflower, springtail, ant, little wood satyr butterfly, and salamander on the leaf litter. In panel 3, covered in creatures, plants, and a colorful starburst, the text says "Notice the connections between them, discover the wider ecosystem, learn about its histories, and find yourself following links from bedrock to stratosphere, between biotic and abiotic, at scales both microbial and massive, until you’re hopelessly overwhelmed by the wonder of it all." In panel 4, the text says "Fall into a daze and let moss engulf you." The person from the first panel is still kneeling in the woods, looking happy as moss slowly engulfs them, and they're saying "This is for the best."
January 20, 2026 at 1:04 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Warmer places
Museum diorama of Galapagos beach with tortoise near a cactus Diorama of cheetah chasing gazelles through a grassland Diorama of South American prairie with Rhea and anteaters Angled photo of large museum diorama of African savanna waterhole with warthogs, zebra, bushbuck(?), etc
January 20, 2026 at 4:03 PM
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
lol why do I live here
Screenshot of next week of forecasts for Chicago. Ranges from -14 to a whopping 28
January 20, 2026 at 3:57 PM