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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

@deadbovids.bsky.social

2.2K followers 490 following 330 posts

SUNY Oneonta Assistant Professor studying large mammal evolution, ecology, and extinction in Kenya 🇰🇪 Paleontologist, anthropologist, naturalist, forager, teacher. Views my own 🏳️‍🌈 https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xAy15BUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · Dec 31

New Article Alert! doi.org/10.1111/ele....

In our newly published paper in Ecology Letters, we use serially sampled strontium and carbon isotopes from 18 species of antelope, buffalo, and zebra from the Last Glacial Period of Kenya to reconstruct herbivore behavior in the Late Pleistocene.
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Non‐Analog Behaviour of Eastern African Herbivore Communities During the Last Glacial Period

Drawing from serially-sampled stable isotope measurements from 18 Kenyan large herbivore species from the Last Glacial Period (LGP), we evaluate how diet, diet-switching, and migration compare to obs...

doi.org

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 3h

Emotional support foraging!
Trout with hickory nut, wild carrot, and sumac topping and acorn tortillas

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 11h

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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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 10h

I can’t believe I have to say this, but historically, masked men who kidnap families in the middle of the night are usually not the good guys.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 1d

Great start--some incremental efforts til we can have Hogg 2036!

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Guilherme Castro @guivcastro.bsky.social · 1d

I just finished an exciting full year collecting data for my PhD and I wrote a quick blog post on @jappliedecology.bsky.social about why it matters🌍

@britishecologicalsociety.org
appliedecologistsblog.com/2025/10/07/f...

Field Diaries: Using remote sensing to help restore landscapes

In our ‘Field Diaries’ series, The Applied Ecologist is sharing stories from a range of different fieldwork experiences. In this post Guilherme Castro shares his research on using remote sensing to…

appliedecologistsblog.com

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Adrian Viliami Bell @avbell.bsky.social · 2d

I'm co-directing an independent film w/ Ella Warnick about marine foraging, environmental adaptation, & family in Tonga, trailer:

youtu.be/3ttrOkX-esU?...

Still not finished! I have a job already, but to finish this film please support my young, up-and-coming co-director:

gofund.me/d9b24a5af

Fatongia | Official Trailer

YouTube video by Ella Warnick

youtu.be

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 2d

Support your local library!

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2d

😭

IG newberlinlibrary

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 2d

This is really cool!

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 2d

Not a bad view out my office window

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 2d

Took a break from digging up bones and foraging mushrooms to go be swanky in public at the coolest Pagan wedding I could imagine

❤️ Love you Jordin and Joe

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Kim TallBear @kimtallbear.bsky.social · 3d

"Unprecedented." "This isn't us."

Please read a book. Try Joanne Barker's 2021 "Red Scare: the State's Indigenous Terrorist," to start. On pages 28-29:

"In 1703..the Massachusetts Bay Colony offered.. between 250 and 300 pounds for Indian scalps." (1/4)

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

jvelezjuarbe.bsky.social @jvelezjuarbe.bsky.social · 5d

My newest publication is out in @peerj.bsky.social! In this collaboration with Ana Valenzuela, Nick Pyenson & Mario Suarez we describe the most complete skeleton of the #AquaticSloth - #Thalassocnus - from #Chile!
Artwork by @alexboersma-art.bsky.social
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#FossilFriday
peerj.com/articles/198...

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 5d

I just have to post this #iceage masterpiece from time to time: A tiny (3.7 cm) but amazing figurine of a woolly mammoth carved in mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago.

Found in the Vogelherd cave on the Swabian Jura, south-west Germany.

📷 me
🏺

A mammoth figurine carved from ivory, its surface weathered with age. The shape captures the essence of the animal, with a prominent trunk and sloping back. The figure is displayed on a metal stand against a dark background.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 6d

It's a long process--
1. Dry
2. Shell
3. Leach (I ground them and did a hot water leach
4. Dehydrate
5. Grind

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 6d

Red acorn flour was a success!

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7d

Evidence potentially supporting human-driven extinction of American megafauna by refuting one of the most commonly-cited (and tired) "climate-only" extinction talking points

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 7d

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Extinct megafauna dominated human subsistence in southern South America before 11,600 years ago

The high position of megafauna among the hunting prey of humans in South America reinforces their central role in extinctions.

www.science.org

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7d

The world has lost one of the biggest figures in Anthropology, Biology, and Conservation to have ever lived. Science will be an emptier place without her, and I can only take solace in knowing that she has inspired entire new generations of researchers who will continue her work. Rest in peace, Jane

NPR @npr.org · 7d

JUST IN: Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.

Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91

Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.

n.pr

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 7d

Unexpected, yet sensible results are the best kind!

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 9d

In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists when unprovoked — what would we call it?

If federal agents marched down streets demanding papers — what would we say?

Authoritarianism — let’s not pretend it’s something else when it happens in our American cities.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 9d

The Whitetail bucks are losing their velvet! #MammalMonday

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Common Descent @commondescentpod.bsky.social · 9d

News from Episode 227:

A review of mammal evolution highlights the many times that lineages have evolved into specialized ant-eaters.

Mammals Have Evolved Into Anteaters at Least 12 Times Since The Dinosaurs

If you want to get by in this world, you could do a lot worse than developing a predilection for ants.

buff.ly

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 10d

The start of Fall means it's acorn season! Trying some new methods for these red acorns

Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 10d

Slime molds!

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · 11d

youtube.com/watch?v=MA1c...

Our common Neanderthal ancestor could be a million years old, says Chris Stringer

YouTube video by New Scientist

youtube.com

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Russ Epp-Leppel 💜💀 @leppeppel.bsky.social · 12d

Here is a pair of Palaeochiropteryx specimens from the Germany's Messel Pit for #FossilFriday. Due to the exceptional circumstances of their fossilization, soft tissues were preserved, allowing the outlines of their wings and ears to remain clearly visible.

Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon
Soft tissue preservation shows this genus possessed relatively broad, short wings, indicative of adaptation for slow, highly maneuverable flight near the forest floor. While some features such as the skull and skeleton are primitive, the shape of the wings resembles that of the modern-day Hipposiderids which have a similar flight habit. Many of the limb bones are in articulation. This bat probably was overcome by toxic gases from the lake while in low-level pursuit of flying insects.
Source: http://www.fossilmall.com/fossils/gf117/palaeochiropteryx-messel-bat-fossil.htm

Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon
This is an especially beautiful example of the famous Messel soft-body preservation. The flight membrane and the outline of the outer ears have been preserved in the finest detail by fossilized bacteria.
source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Small-bat-Palaeochiropteryx-tupaiodon-Revilliod-1917-This-is-an-especially-beautiful_fig44_329970301

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