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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin

@ichnologist.bsky.social

7K followers 760 following 2.3K posts

Traces & trace fossils. Wrote 'Life Sculpted' (2023), 'Dinosaurs Without Bones' (2014), 'The Evolution Underground' (2017), & more. Hubby, Trekkie, reading, cooking, craft-beer imbibing, childless cat dude. https://ajmartinauthor.com

ajmartinauthor.com

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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · Aug 21

Hello Bluesky science appreciators! I'm a geologist, paleontologist, & (most importantly) an ichnologist, which means I study modern traces (tracks, burrows, etc.) & trace fossils. I teach undergrad students in environmental sciences, write books about ichnology, & do lots of public outreach. 🧪🪨⚒️🐾🦕🦖

Alligator tracks on a beach, showing the direction of movement by a large alligator from the lower part of the beach and up to its dunes, with a prominent sinuous tail drag in its middle and front-rear track pairs on either side. I am squatting to the left of the tracks, wearing a hat, sunglasses, shirt, shorts, and sandals. Tracks were on Sapelo Island, Georgia (USA).

Cover of my latest book LIFE SCULPTED (2023, U. of Chicago Press), with black background and cut section of a grayish tree trunk as its central image, in which the trunk has many borings made by insects and fungi. The book title and subtitle at the top of the cover says, "LIFE SCULPTED: Tales of the Animals, Plants, and Fungi that Drill, Break, and Scrape to Shape the Earth," and my author name (Anthony J. Martin) is in the lower right corner.

Sauropod dinosaur tracks evident as semi-circular depressions in a slanted sandstone surface, with me wearing a broad-brimmed hat while sitting next to the tracks on that surface and facing downslope. Tracks were in a Jurassic formation in southern Portugal.

Rear view of a camera crew (two people) filming me in the atrium of Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, GA (USA), with me sitting and partial views of dinosaur skeletons in the background, which are replicas of Argentinosaurus (left) and Gigantosaurus (right), dinosaurs that lived in what is now Argentina about 100 million years ago.

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Jeremy Lockwood @valdosaurus.bsky.social · 4h

For #FossilFriday some iguanodontian dorsal vertebrae with ossified tendons which would have formed a crisscross pattern. First appeared Late Jurassic associated with increased mass and quadrupedality. From #IsleofWight in the collections of @nhm-london.bsky.social.

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Dr Susannah Lydon @susieoftraken.bsky.social · 4h

A 300 million year old Sigillaria tree trunk, in front of a mural depicting those steamy Carboniferous coal swamp forests.

On display in Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid.

#FossilFriday ⚒🌏🌱🧪🌿🔬

A Sigillaria tree trunk, in front of a mural depicting the Carboniferous swamp forest. About 1.75 m tall

On display in Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid.

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Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 6h

🧵1/10 @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social posted a great thread the other day about a beloved childhood dinosaur book and her young ideas about it. I thought I'd chime in with my own. I got this book for my 5th birthday in 1965(!) It was written by Jane Werner Watson (author of a zillion Golden Books) and--

The cover of a book called "Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles," showing a color illustration of a brachiosaurus eating ferns while half submerged in a swamp, with an Allosaurus in the background along with a flying pteranosaur. The book is worn, with tape holding the binding.

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Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 16h

Our book is out (in the UK)!

Ocean: From Shore to Abyss.

Available for pre-order in the US, too.

www.southernfriedscience.com/ocean-from-t...

Ocean: From the Shore to the Abyss

I am extremely pleased to announce that a book I contributed to is just about to come out. Ocean: From Shore to Abyss, led by the legendary Dr. Asha de Vos, is a visual journey through the oceans, …

www.southernfriedscience.com

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Bob Nicholls Art @bobnichollsart.bsky.social · 20h

A closer zoom into my reconstruction of the "sea-rex," a Jurassic pliosaur. This piece was commissioned by The Etches Collection, which is where the spectacular skull is exhibited.

#SciArt #PaleoArt #MarineReptiles #Pliosaur #Pliosaurus #SeaRex #Jurassic #JurassicWorld

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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 21h

If anyone needs video content about coastal Georgia (USA) about its intertwined environmental & human histories, check out the Georgia Coast Atlas project by the @ecds-emory.bsky.social. Includes drone footage, in-the-field observations, & interviews. www.georgiacoastatlas.org/collections/...

Videos Collection | Georgia Coast Atlas

TODO: Add descriptive text about the videos collection here.

www.georgiacoastatlas.org

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Association of University Presses @aupresses.bsky.social · 22h

Worth repeating: "University presses are essential infrastructure for the humanities & should be financially supported in the same way that other higher education inter-institutional infrastructure is." Some powerful examples here:

Institutions and funders must recognize the contributions of university presses to the humanities infrastructure (opinion)

Recognizing the university press community’s essential contributions to that infrastructure will be crucial as institutions and funders plan for the future, write Charles Watkinson and Melissa Pitts.

bit.ly

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Oxford University Museum of Natural History @morethanadodo.bsky.social · 1d

L is for... Lithograph! A lithograph is a stone with an image drawn out in a greasy material, and the surrounding stone is etched out to create a water-receptive surface. The ink will only adhere to the drawing, allowing for printing of an image, as shown here in Breaking Ground.

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Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 23h

phys.org/news/2025-10...

Early humans butchered elephants using small tools then made big tools from their bones, research finds

During warmer periods of the Middle Pleistocene, ancient humans in Italy were in the habit of butchering elephants for meat and raw materials, according to a study published October 8, 2025 in the ope...

phys.org

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stuartsumida.bsky.social @stuartsumida.bsky.social · 1d

Our opinion piece on the importance of science and vertebrate paleontology in the United States was just published by Open Access Government:
www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-importan...
#svp #svppresident

The importance of palaeontology, Earth history, and science

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology discusses the significance of paleontology, Earth history and science in this insightful opinion piece

www.openaccessgovernment.org

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Tim Fedak PhD @timfedak.bsky.social · 1d

A wonderful celebration of #GeodiversityDay in the Cliffs of Fundy UNESCO Global Geopark - ⚒️ see more and Like/Follow at: facebook.com/DrawingGeopa...

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Nature @nature.com · 1d

Remembering Mark Norell, the palaeontologist whose discoveries helped to demonstrate that birds are living dinosaurs.

go.nature.com/433ddyk

Mark Norell obituary: palaeontologist who showed that dinosaurs still walk among us — as birds

Through fieldwork and innovative research, he transformed how scientists and the public perceive the prehistoric world.

go.nature.com

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🌴 Scott Zona, Ph.D. 🌴 @scottzona.bsky.social · 1d

The fleshy sarcotesta of Ginkgo biloba smells really nasty. Some biologists suggest that the stench evolved to attract scavenging dinosaurs (or ancient mammals), which dispersed the seeds. 🤷‍♂️ Maybe. If so, that vile smell is the aroma of Jurassic death. 💀 #dispersal #Ginkgoaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Photo of a pair of fleshy seeds of ginkgo hanging in the tree, not yet dispersed. Photo by Scott Zona CCBYNC2.

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Amypteride🏳️‍⚧️🔻🕷🦂 @amypteride.bsky.social · 1d

#paleoctober2025 day 9 : Protobalanus spinicoronatus !

Despite its name, this animal is a devonian mollusk, more specifically a basal polyplacophoran. You may know its current day relatives as little criters on the beaches called "chitons" (that are not slugs with shells nor crustaceans).

A drawing of Protobalanus spinicoronatus, a flat oval-shaped mollusk with no distinct head and armored plates and also spikes on the body's edge.

A fossil 3D-scan of Protobalanus spinicoronatus, showing the oval-shaped body of the mollusk with armored plates and also a few spikes on the body's edge.

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 1d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 1d

In her new book, earth scientist Anjana Khatwa writes a love letter to Earth's rocks and mountains, offering a passionate blend of science and spirituality

The Whispers of Rock is a personal journey through aeons of geology

In her new book, earth scientist Anjana Khatwa writes a love letter to Earth's rocks and mountains, offering a passionate blend of science and spirituality

www.newscientist.com

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 1d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Dan Killam @dantheclamman.blog · 1d

Trypophobes beware! Clionid sponges are a menace to clams! They specialize in dissolving away burrows in shell, weakening it. Eventually they can bore straight through, though the clam can build more carbonate inside to protect itself. (295)

A fossil inoceramid which has partially dissolved away, revealing a network of filled burrows left by clionid sponges, which look kind of like a little network of nerve cells. Source: Deposits mag

An oyster shell with small yellow sponges poking out of burrows. Source: Chesapeake Bay Program

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𝔸𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕒𝕨𝕟 @amberdawn1116.bsky.social · 1d

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Dr. Nick Famoso @drfamoso.bsky.social · 1d

Happy establishment day for John Day Fossil Beds National Monument! On this day in 1975, JODA was taken over by the National Park Service. Its mission, to preserve the region's geological and paleontological resources and to provide for the scientific and public understanding of these resources.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 1d

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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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 1d

You're very welcome! And because all traces (tracks, burrows, borings, nests, etc.) & trace fossils are from behavior, I end up reading a LOT of literature on animal behavior. I then try to relate those behaviors to what was preserved: so more of "how done it" rather than "who done it."

Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 1d

They could be concretions (selective cementation) that formed in burrows, like those of crayfishes, which have vertical shafts in their burrow complexes. ¡Muy interestante!

Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 1d

That's terrific news, Julianne, thanks for sharing it with us! Best wishes with your new Ph.D. journey & looking forward to learning what you learn from it. 🧪🌿🪨

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