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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 2d

Not so long ago, I wrote about the history of human interactions with (wild) hamsters.
A coda in the news today: the Flemish populist right makes the (no longer existing) “hamster coaches” a culture-war target - seemingly to discredit wider biodiversity efforts.
www.standaard.be/politiek/de-...

De Vlaamse hamstercoach, de favoriete pispaal van rechts, bestaat al lang niet meer: “Intussen is het beestje hier nagenoeg uitgestorven”

Onder meer Vlaams Belang-voorzitter Tom Van Grieken blijft uithalen naar de “hamstercoach”, als symbool van een Vlaamse regering die haar prioriteiten niet op orde heeft. In werkelijkheid is de functie allang geschrapt en werd Vlaanderen onlangs nog veroordeeld omdat ze de wilde hamster, een Europees bedreigde diersoort, niet genoeg heeft beschermd.

www.standaard.be

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 4d

Een prettige samenwerking tussen de binnenstadsfaculteiten ook.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 4d

@fasosmaastricht.bsky.social is mooi vertegenwoordigd op het Weekend van de Wetenschap!

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Jules Skotnes-Brown @julesskotnesbrown.bsky.social · 8d

I am thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Grant. Over the next five years I'll be directing the research project "Conserving Global Health: Biodiversity Protection and the Prehistory of Planetary Health".

Poster depicting an owl hunting gerbils in a field, juxtaposed with an image of the zoonotic cycle of plague. Arrows connect a rat with fleas, and a man sleeping in a bed. The image reads 'Friend of the Farmer Conserve Owls'.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 5d

Congrats, Jules! Sounds super-exciting!

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 6d

My neighbors' red maple. Although considered highly adaptable, this one individual has been suffering under increasingly hot and dry summers. Still, every October, it is my favorite non-native species.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 7d

For those interested in a history of science take on Goodall's work: Robert Kohler has a great chapter on her in his book Inside Science.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 7d

RIP Jane Goodall — she forever transformed what it means to do fieldwork.
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Jane Goodall, world-renowned primatologist, dies aged 91

Jane Goodall Institute says ‘tireless advocate’ for natural world died in California during US speaking tour

www.theguardian.com

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 7d

"The report stresses that climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat to Europe’s competitiveness."
Framing environmental policy in this way may well be strategic, but still sad to see the value of nature primarily expressed in terms of geopolitical and economic competition.

European Environment Agency @eea.europa.eu · 9d

🌍🚨 Europe’s environment 2025 is out now, and the conclusions are sobering:

⚠️ Europe’s environment is in poor shape. Nature continues to degrade, biodiversity is declining, and Europe is warming faster than any other region.

www.eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/...

#EuropesEnvironment2025

State of Europe’s environment not good: threats to nature and impacts of climate change top challenges

Significant progress has been made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but the overall state of Europe’s environment is not good, especially its nature which continues to face degr...

www.eea.europa.eu

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 9d

Makes me wonder what the primary sauces are. Béchamel, Madeira and Hollandaise?

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Joost Sneller - Kamerlid D66 @sneller.bsky.social · 18d

“Ik vind het echt schokkend dat in principe rechtstatelijke partijen als de VVD en de SGP meegaan met de populisten in de Tweede Kamer, die op deze manier de democratische rechtsorde willen inperken.”

Beatrice de Graaf is ook vernietigend over hun gedrag: www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/antifa/

Beatrice de Graaf: Antifa-besluit Tweede Kamer is ‘een knuppel om tegenstanders monddood te maken’

‘Een schok’, zo noemt Beatrice de Graaf het besluit van de Tweede Kamer om de Antifa-beweging als terroristische organisatie aan te merken.

www.historischnieuwsblad.nl

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 18d

Likewise Sadiah, it was really nice to meet up! Thanks again for organizing this great event.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 18d

The pleasure was all mine!

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 18d

With some scary taxidermy during the lunch break.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · 18d

On my way back from the "Planetary Futures" conference in Manchester, organized by @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social and @duncanwilson78.bsky.social
Two days of vibrant discussions on how the humanities can help us understand extinction.

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Aleksandra Komornicka @olakom.bsky.social · Aug 11

We are seeking a PhD candidate with an interest in East–West European relations (1970s–1990s) to work with me and Aline Sierp. The deadline for submitting proposals is 28 September.

vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...

PhD in the long-term history of the European Union's Eastern enlargement

vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · Aug 22

Impressions from #eseh2025: a speech by Linnaeus himself, grandiose academic architecture and a quaint natural history museum. But, above all, wonderfully engaging panels and workshops. And, abover all, catching up with old and new friends. Many thanks to the organizers!

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · Aug 18

Then we must be on the same train, Dominik!

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · Aug 18

Good morning Sweden! On the train towards #eseh2025

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Journal of Global History (JGH) @globalhistjnl.bsky.social · Aug 8

Raf De Bont (@rafdebont.bsky.social) discusses how computers changed zoos, touching upon databases, ‘infrastructural globalism’ and transcontinental flows of Siberian tigers!

Read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S174...

A computerised ark: The International Species Information System (ISIS) and the laborious re-ordering of the zoo world | Journal of Global History | Cambridge Core

A computerised ark: The International Species Information System (ISIS) and the laborious re-ordering of the zoo world - Volume 20 Issue 2

doi.org

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Monica Vasile 🐾 @monicavasile.bsky.social · Aug 2

1/ Happy to share that my article “Beyond Homecoming: The Reintroduction of Seven Przewalski’s Mares in the Gobi Desert” has been published in Environmental Humanities.

It is the story of seven mares flown from Australian zoos to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert in the 1990s
doi.org/10.1215/2201... #envhist

Reintroduction of Przewalski's horses in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, 1990s. Transported by aircraft, arriving in crates. Photo by ITG, Ruth Baumgartner.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · Aug 1

Make sure to read @monicavasile.bsky.social's wonderful new article in Environmental Humanities - arguing we should think of reintroduction projects not as a form of 'homecoming', but as 'homemaking'. #MovingAnimals read.dukeupress.edu/environmenta...

Beyond Homecoming | Environmental Humanities | Duke University Press

read.dukeupress.edu

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science @mpiwg.bsky.social · Jun 17

New special issue of OSIRIS: "Animal Mobilities" 🐫🐠🐛

The volume was edited by MPIWG Research Scholars Tamar Novick, @lisaonaga.bsky.social, and Gabriel N. Rosenberg of the working groups "Out of Place, Out of Time" and "Proteins and Fibers."

🔗 bit.ly/amv4025

#HistSci #EnvHist #STS #Zoology

Cover of OSIRIS, volume 40. The title reads "Animal Mobilities" in yellow letters on a blue background. Above there is a colorful illustration showing animals and planets on the seabed.

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Reposted by Raf De Bont 🟥

Maastricht University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social · Jul 10

📸🪶 Congrats to Pauw Vos on securing an #NWO PhDs in the Humanities grant! His project: "Narratives of the Nest: Early Dutch Bird #Photography and the Visual Construction of Conservation (1890-1940)”. Supervised by @rafdebont.bsky.social & Miriam Meissner.

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Raf De Bont 🟥 @rafdebont.bsky.social · Jul 5

Next time it will be better!

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