Richard Conniff
@richardconniff.bsky.social
Author, magazine feature & NY Times essayist, about wildlife, public health, poetry, museums, & other topics. National Magazine Award. Guggenheim Fellowship. Latest book, "Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape from Contagion" from MIT Press.
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Meet your cousins. They are everywhere, and have a hand in almost everything. 🌿🐙📷 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Down the Rabbit Hole with Our Least Known Kin
Your cousins are fungi, and the survival of life on Earth depends on them.
open.substack.com
January 31, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Meet your cousins. They are everywhere, and have a hand in almost everything. 🌿🐙📷 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Plenty of potential #bison habitat out there, if we just let them at it. New study from WCS, Panthera Cats, Re: Wild, et al. act-green.org
January 27, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Plenty of potential #bison habitat out there, if we just let them at it. New study from WCS, Panthera Cats, Re: Wild, et al. act-green.org
Cave mummies discovery could lead to restoring one of the most beautiful animals on Earth to lost habitat. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/cave-cheet...
January 15, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Cave mummies discovery could lead to restoring one of the most beautiful animals on Earth to lost habitat. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/cave-cheet...
Reposted by Richard Conniff
@richardconniff.bsky.social's bizarre life and work of Charles Waterton, pioneer of taxidermy—and let's not forget his bitter feud with John James Audubon over whether North American vultures hunted by sight or smell. Also, you'll never guess what this strange humanoid figure is made from
Slavery, Bird-Stuffing, & Nature: Truth or Fiction?
Charles Waterton was a crackpot, or worse--& a pioneering voice for protecting nature.
open.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 3:02 PM
@richardconniff.bsky.social's bizarre life and work of Charles Waterton, pioneer of taxidermy—and let's not forget his bitter feud with John James Audubon over whether North American vultures hunted by sight or smell. Also, you'll never guess what this strange humanoid figure is made from
You may hate hunting but it played a key role 60,000 years ago in shaping the modern human mind. Poison arrows are the clue. richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-huntin...
January 10, 2026 at 11:33 AM
You may hate hunting but it played a key role 60,000 years ago in shaping the modern human mind. Poison arrows are the clue. richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-huntin...
Hey, @asyousow.bsky.social, you need to get fossilfreefunds.com back online now. It's ridiculous to be upgrading for days or weeks, especially when people are thinking about these investing decisions at the start of the New Year.
fossilfreefunds.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Hey, @asyousow.bsky.social, you need to get fossilfreefunds.com back online now. It's ridiculous to be upgrading for days or weeks, especially when people are thinking about these investing decisions at the start of the New Year.
Even as they lie about the killing of Renee Good, the Trump White House website is pretending Ashlii Babbit, shot while literally storming Congress, is a martyr. www.whitehouse.gov/j6/?mc_cid=9...
January 6: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
Discover the real January 6 story: peaceful protest turned tragedy, Deep State entrapment, media deception, and President Trump's triumphant pardons restoring justice to patriotic Americans.
www.whitehouse.gov
January 9, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Even as they lie about the killing of Renee Good, the Trump White House website is pretending Ashlii Babbit, shot while literally storming Congress, is a martyr. www.whitehouse.gov/j6/?mc_cid=9...
Strange creatures, from an even stranger character in the history of exploration. richardconniff.substack.com/p/slavery-bi...
January 6, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Strange creatures, from an even stranger character in the history of exploration. richardconniff.substack.com/p/slavery-bi...
Reader comment: "Oh what a great read! Bizarre, macabre and also a bit magical, much like taxidermy!" substack.com/home/post/p-...
January 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Reader comment: "Oh what a great read! Bizarre, macabre and also a bit magical, much like taxidermy!" substack.com/home/post/p-...
This pioneering conservationist was deeply complicit in slavery. But he has been admired by naturalists from Darwin to David Attenborough—and by me in my book The Species Seekers, where I also managed to overlook that complicity 🌿🧪🗃️🦉
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Slavery, Bird-Stuffing, & Nature: Truth or Fiction?
Charles Waterton was a crackpot, or worse--& a pioneering voice for protecting nature.
open.substack.com
January 3, 2026 at 5:09 PM
This pioneering conservationist was deeply complicit in slavery. But he has been admired by naturalists from Darwin to David Attenborough—and by me in my book The Species Seekers, where I also managed to overlook that complicity 🌿🧪🗃️🦉
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Plus a postscript on sharks 🌿
What if mosasaurs, the giant killers in oceans worldwide, also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Killer Kings of the River
A scientific detective story makes a giant Cretaceous predator even more terrifying.
open.substack.com
December 13, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Plus a postscript on sharks 🌿
Get your children vaccinated. South Carolina reports 116 measles cases, 27 new cases, and the outbreak is "accelerating." www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Another spike in measles cases amid outbreak in South Carolina
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — The South Carolina Department of Public Health reported another spike in measles cases among the ongoing upstate outbreak. The department announced 15 new cases since Tuesday...
www.yahoo.com
December 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Get your children vaccinated. South Carolina reports 116 measles cases, 27 new cases, and the outbreak is "accelerating." www.yahoo.com/news/article...
What if mosasaurs, the giant killers in oceans worldwide, also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Killer Kings of the River
A scientific detective story makes a giant Cretaceous predator even more terrifying.
open.substack.com
December 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
What if mosasaurs, the giant killers in oceans worldwide, also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Killer Kings of the River
A scientific detective story makes a giant Cretaceous predator even more terrifying.
open.substack.com
December 13, 2025 at 11:32 AM
What if mosasaurs, the giant killers in oceans worldwide, also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Here's a terrifying thought for your weekend: What if the giant killer in oceans worldwide also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Killer Kings of the River
A scientific detective story makes a giant Cretaceous predator even more terrifying.
open.substack.com
December 13, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Here's a terrifying thought for your weekend: What if the giant killer in oceans worldwide also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
If you search for possible gifts using google or even duckduckgo, it feels as if Amazon and Etsy have paid to own every shelf in the store. Is there a search term I can use to avoid them?
December 10, 2025 at 8:59 PM
If you search for possible gifts using google or even duckduckgo, it feels as if Amazon and Etsy have paid to own every shelf in the store. Is there a search term I can use to avoid them?
Here's one for the naturalist in your family. ""A swashbuckling romp…brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era."--BBC Focus. 🌿 🦑🦊 www.amazon.com/Species-Seek...
The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth
Buy The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders
www.amazon.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Here's one for the naturalist in your family. ""A swashbuckling romp…brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era."--BBC Focus. 🌿 🦑🦊 www.amazon.com/Species-Seek...
Part 2 of the desert rhino story richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...
December 7, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Part 2 of the desert rhino story richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...
Is it better to be horned by a charging rhinoceros? Or trampled? A guide tests the question. 🌿
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...
December 7, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Is it better to be horned by a charging rhinoceros? Or trampled? A guide tests the question. 🌿
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...
Reposted by Richard Conniff
Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
Getting Close to Rhinos (Part 1)
On foot where endangered black rhinos roam wild and unfenced
richardconniff.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
Getting Close to Rhinos (Part 1)
On foot where endangered black rhinos roam wild and unfenced
richardconniff.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...
Heads up: The details of the Netflix-Warner Bros.deal means CNN will still be at risk of right-wing takeover in the New Year www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/m...
Netflix announces deal to buy Warner Bros. and HBO | CNN Business
Netflix has triumphed in the bidding war for Warner Bros. and HBO.
www.cnn.com
December 6, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Heads up: The details of the Netflix-Warner Bros.deal means CNN will still be at risk of right-wing takeover in the New Year www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/m...
How do you feel about plugging insect parts into machines? Necrobotics—Yes or No? 🌿 substack.com/home/post/p-...
Necroprinting is not a story about vampire novels.
Is taking insect body parts and using them in"biohybrid" tools a smart idea?
substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:28 PM
How do you feel about plugging insect parts into machines? Necrobotics—Yes or No? 🌿 substack.com/home/post/p-...
Here's the great white shark of the jellyfish world. And other strangely elegant creatures made from snot. An 11-minute read for your weekend. (Photo: George Matsumoto/MBARI) richardconniff.substack.com/p/jelly-bell...
November 15, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Here's the great white shark of the jellyfish world. And other strangely elegant creatures made from snot. An 11-minute read for your weekend. (Photo: George Matsumoto/MBARI) richardconniff.substack.com/p/jelly-bell...
Here's the wrap on my three-part series on spider webs. Read on to learn how the insects take their terrible revenge. 🌿
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
A Spider's Life: Hanging its Butt in the Breeze
Despite their dark lord image, spiders also have cause for fear and trembling
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Here's the wrap on my three-part series on spider webs. Read on to learn how the insects take their terrible revenge. 🌿
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...