Stephanie Drumheller
@uglyfossils.bsky.social
Studying the evolution of archosaurs and their behaviors, one ugly fossil at a time. she/her
Pinned
My handle is UglyFossils because I study how #fossils form and what that can tell us about the ecosystems where these animals lived and died (taphonomy). While I do sometimes work on pretty fossils, I spend more time looking at ugly, scrappy bits that only another taphonomist could love.
Doom scrolling through the posts about academics who have popped up in the Epstein list, cozying up for research funding and worse. The ethical bar we're asking people to clear is so low, it's literally in hell.
February 2, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Doom scrolling through the posts about academics who have popped up in the Epstein list, cozying up for research funding and worse. The ethical bar we're asking people to clear is so low, it's literally in hell.
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Squidfalls!
Yeah old news but new to me 🦑
Yeah old news but new to me 🦑
Deep-Sea Discoveries: Squid Graveyard
YouTube video by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Squidfalls!
Yeah old news but new to me 🦑
Yeah old news but new to me 🦑
First pub of the new year, with @drjmchugh.bsky.social
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
(PDF) INTER-SITE AND INTER-ANALYST VARIATION IN REPORTED FREQUENCIES OF MODIFIED BONE MATERIAL FROM THE UPPER JURASSIC MORRISON FORMATION OF COLORADO AND WYOMING
PDF | Bone surface modifications (BSMs) on vertebrate remains can provide critical data on taphonomic and paleoecologic activity. Here, we present the... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...
www.researchgate.net
January 24, 2026 at 5:38 PM
First pub of the new year, with @drjmchugh.bsky.social
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
We're back on our bone surface modification nonsense, this time comparing bite marks and insect traces between two Jurassic sites and between our work on those sites and other teams' to see how comparable they all are.
When everyone else is out buying last second groceries ahead of the ice storm, but your kid tells you he's got a school assignment to make a Medusa head by next week.
January 24, 2026 at 3:36 PM
When everyone else is out buying last second groceries ahead of the ice storm, but your kid tells you he's got a school assignment to make a Medusa head by next week.
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Happy #FossilFriday. Did you know Diplodocus skin glows orange under UV light? 🦕🟠
January 23, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Happy #FossilFriday. Did you know Diplodocus skin glows orange under UV light? 🦕🟠
Send thoughts and prayers. I am manually cut and pasting 1,774 character descriptions one at a time into a character taxon matrix to meet journal submission requirements today.
a man with a mustache is standing in front of a door and says `` this is my hell '' .
Alt: Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson in Parks and Rec saying, ``This is my hell.''
media.tenor.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Send thoughts and prayers. I am manually cut and pasting 1,774 character descriptions one at a time into a character taxon matrix to meet journal submission requirements today.
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
This year's @geosociety.bsky.social annual meeting had a theme session titled 'Coprolite Happens,' & in my talk I showed a slide of this coprolite-in-a-coprolite, then followed it with a 'Knives Out' gif of Daniel Craig/Benoit Blanc with a similarly expressed revelation on donut holes.
December 26, 2025 at 4:24 PM
This year's @geosociety.bsky.social annual meeting had a theme session titled 'Coprolite Happens,' & in my talk I showed a slide of this coprolite-in-a-coprolite, then followed it with a 'Knives Out' gif of Daniel Craig/Benoit Blanc with a similarly expressed revelation on donut holes.
It's nice to be really seen this gift giving season:
December 21, 2025 at 11:37 PM
It's nice to be really seen this gift giving season:
I got to chat with Robert Sansom about the reptile decomposition research when I was at #2025SVP this last month. Here's the full podcast of The Fossil Files from the meeting, which includes my bit: fossils.libsyn.com/rotting-croc...
The Fossil Files: 16. Rotting crocs, the dino bus, and engineering skulls: Day 3 at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
In the last of our series from the massive Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, Susie and Rob finally manage to catch up for a gossip. In this episode with get a disgusting taste of rotting cro...
fossils.libsyn.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:19 AM
I got to chat with Robert Sansom about the reptile decomposition research when I was at #2025SVP this last month. Here's the full podcast of The Fossil Files from the meeting, which includes my bit: fossils.libsyn.com/rotting-croc...
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Mosasaurs, the giant marine reptiles that roamed the Earth more than 66 million years ago, didn’t just live in the sea. Our new research shows that they could thrive in freshwater too! Let’s dive into what we’ve discovered.
#Paleontology #Mosasaurs
#Paleontology #Mosasaurs
December 12, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Mosasaurs, the giant marine reptiles that roamed the Earth more than 66 million years ago, didn’t just live in the sea. Our new research shows that they could thrive in freshwater too! Let’s dive into what we’ve discovered.
#Paleontology #Mosasaurs
#Paleontology #Mosasaurs
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Science Christmas
The Upturned Microscope
The Upturned Microscope
December 14, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Science Christmas
The Upturned Microscope
The Upturned Microscope
Does having my research made into weird AI slop where "I" am portrayed by an uncanny valley Jane Goodall (and her clone, and also 3 cloned grad students) mean I have "arrived" as a scientist?
December 13, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Does having my research made into weird AI slop where "I" am portrayed by an uncanny valley Jane Goodall (and her clone, and also 3 cloned grad students) mean I have "arrived" as a scientist?
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
The jumble of bones looked like porridge. It turned out to be a new species of pterosaur preserved in prehistoric vomit, the latest fossil find extracted from dinosaur excretions. I’ll tell you more in my latest for NatGeo. 🧪
How dinosaur vomit has solved these prehistoric mysteries
A new pterosaur species was recently discovered in the vomit of a dino. But that's just the start of revelations from prehistoric excretions.
www.nationalgeographic.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
The jumble of bones looked like porridge. It turned out to be a new species of pterosaur preserved in prehistoric vomit, the latest fossil find extracted from dinosaur excretions. I’ll tell you more in my latest for NatGeo. 🧪
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Do better.
(There, I just put more effort into writing the above response than anyone involved with the "writing," "reviewing," or "editing" of this "paper.")
(There, I just put more effort into writing the above response than anyone involved with the "writing," "reviewing," or "editing" of this "paper.")
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 29, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Do better.
(There, I just put more effort into writing the above response than anyone involved with the "writing," "reviewing," or "editing" of this "paper.")
(There, I just put more effort into writing the above response than anyone involved with the "writing," "reviewing," or "editing" of this "paper.")
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
For this week's #FossilFriday, here's a specimen which brought tears to my eyes —
the original Megalosaurus dentary, first dinosaur fossil ever scientifically described, way back in 1824
the original Megalosaurus dentary, first dinosaur fossil ever scientifically described, way back in 1824
November 28, 2025 at 5:35 PM
For this week's #FossilFriday, here's a specimen which brought tears to my eyes —
the original Megalosaurus dentary, first dinosaur fossil ever scientifically described, way back in 1824
the original Megalosaurus dentary, first dinosaur fossil ever scientifically described, way back in 1824
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
American Alligator
American Crocodile
Spectacled Caiman
West African Crocodile
And then, because I broke my 🐊 streak:
Killer Whale
American Alligator
American Crocodile
Spectacled Caiman
West African Crocodile
And then, because I broke my 🐊 streak:
Killer Whale
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Gray whale
Pygmy faded rattlesnake
Green sea turtle
Puerto Rican woodpecker
Prairie dog
Gray whale
Pygmy faded rattlesnake
Green sea turtle
Puerto Rican woodpecker
Prairie dog
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Steller’s sea lion
Sandhill crane
Heaviside’s dolphin
Humboldt penguin
Laysan albatross
Steller’s sea lion
Sandhill crane
Heaviside’s dolphin
Humboldt penguin
Laysan albatross
November 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
American Alligator
American Crocodile
Spectacled Caiman
West African Crocodile
And then, because I broke my 🐊 streak:
Killer Whale
American Alligator
American Crocodile
Spectacled Caiman
West African Crocodile
And then, because I broke my 🐊 streak:
Killer Whale
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Hey @erinbiba.bsky.social I hope this finds you
November 29, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Hey @erinbiba.bsky.social I hope this finds you
The dinosaur sacrifice is complete:
November 27, 2025 at 8:35 PM
The dinosaur sacrifice is complete:
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
You’ll be visited by 3 spirits
The three spirits
The three spirits
November 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
You’ll be visited by 3 spirits
The three spirits
The three spirits
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly.
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
“Why Are We Funding This?”
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
www.americanscientist.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly.
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
Just in case my U.S. followers need to track down a turkey for Thanksgiving, here's a helpful guide in a November 2012 blog post by Yours Truly, with insights on the behavioral ecology of wild turkeys on a Georgia-coast barrier island (Cumberland). 🧪🦃🐾
www.georgialifetraces.com/2012/11/20/t...
www.georgialifetraces.com/2012/11/20/t...
Tracking Wild Turkeys on the Georgia Coast
Of the many traditions associated with the celebration of Thanksgiving in the U.S., the most commonly mentioned one is the ritual consumption of an avian theropod, Meleagris gallopavo, simply known…
www.georgialifetraces.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Just in case my U.S. followers need to track down a turkey for Thanksgiving, here's a helpful guide in a November 2012 blog post by Yours Truly, with insights on the behavioral ecology of wild turkeys on a Georgia-coast barrier island (Cumberland). 🧪🦃🐾
www.georgialifetraces.com/2012/11/20/t...
www.georgialifetraces.com/2012/11/20/t...
Reposted by Stephanie Drumheller
I made an infographic for this very reason!
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
November 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I made an infographic for this very reason!
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge