Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
@bittelmethis.bsky.social
Wild animal & author of GRIZZLED (March 3, 2026). Science Writer @ Nat Geo, NYT, WashPo, etc. Prev: KSJ @ MIT, Nat Geo Explorers. He/him. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804002/grizzled-by-jason-bittel/
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Grizzled by Jason Bittel: 9781426223358 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
Funny, fascinating, and scientifically grounded, this charming book reveals unknown details about 50 well-known animals. Effortlessly readable, Grizzled reintroduces nature lovers to species they th...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
🐻GRIZZLED🐻: Love Letters to 50 of North America's Least Understood Animals
Def the biggest & most personal project of my career. Featuring artwork & foreword by Joel Sartore, as well as insights from a bajillion amazing scientists. 🧪
❤️🔥I HOPE YOU LOVE IT❤️🔥
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804002...
Def the biggest & most personal project of my career. Featuring artwork & foreword by Joel Sartore, as well as insights from a bajillion amazing scientists. 🧪
❤️🔥I HOPE YOU LOVE IT❤️🔥
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804002...
Um, cookie cutter shark teeth are a single, intact unit!? And when it needs to be replaced, they swallow it whole?! What! 🧪
Scientists Solved the Mystery of the Shark That Bites Perfect Circles gizmodo.com/scientists-f...
Scientists Solved the Mystery of the Shark That Bites Perfect Circles
A detailed investigation into these strange creatures is finally giving scientists and fishermen valuable clues about when and where they strike.
gizmodo.com
January 2, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Um, cookie cutter shark teeth are a single, intact unit!? And when it needs to be replaced, they swallow it whole?! What! 🧪
Today is the LAST DAY to save 25% on your @barnesandnoble.com pre-order of GRIZZLED: Love Letters to 50 of North America's Least Understood Animals!
And what is that, you might ask? Well, I have a whole thread about it below!
Animals! Science! Explosions! 🧪
And what is that, you might ask? Well, I have a whole thread about it below!
Animals! Science! Explosions! 🧪
January 1, 2026 at 6:37 PM
Today is the LAST DAY to save 25% on your @barnesandnoble.com pre-order of GRIZZLED: Love Letters to 50 of North America's Least Understood Animals!
And what is that, you might ask? Well, I have a whole thread about it below!
Animals! Science! Explosions! 🧪
And what is that, you might ask? Well, I have a whole thread about it below!
Animals! Science! Explosions! 🧪
Reposted by Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
Just came across this guy... super interesting. He's obviously done a ton of research and writes well. Here's a sample:
jasonbittel.substack.com/i/96071669/f...
I've known that getting wildlife overdependent on human handouts is bad for several reasons but this is a killer. Literally.
jasonbittel.substack.com/i/96071669/f...
I've known that getting wildlife overdependent on human handouts is bad for several reasons but this is a killer. Literally.
January 1, 2026 at 5:49 AM
Just came across this guy... super interesting. He's obviously done a ton of research and writes well. Here's a sample:
jasonbittel.substack.com/i/96071669/f...
I've known that getting wildlife overdependent on human handouts is bad for several reasons but this is a killer. Literally.
jasonbittel.substack.com/i/96071669/f...
I've known that getting wildlife overdependent on human handouts is bad for several reasons but this is a killer. Literally.
Oh man, what a treat!
My best photographs of 2025, a short thread.
A tobacco hornworm on one of its favorite foods, a garden tomato plant (Texas, May 2025). This one makes the cut because it is more aesthetically pleasing than I was aiming for, somehow.
A tobacco hornworm on one of its favorite foods, a garden tomato plant (Texas, May 2025). This one makes the cut because it is more aesthetically pleasing than I was aiming for, somehow.
December 31, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Oh man, what a treat!
Oh my. We have effin crabs now! Cc @franzanth.bsky.social
December 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Oh my. We have effin crabs now! Cc @franzanth.bsky.social
Reposted by Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
Desert lily flowering on a dune at sunrise on Sunday (Photo: Sicco Rood).
December 30, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Desert lily flowering on a dune at sunrise on Sunday (Photo: Sicco Rood).
Good news! From now until January 1, you can get 25% off your pre-order of my new book!!! 🧪🐻🦑🦉🐜🐍🦀
GRIZZLED: Love Letters to 50 of North America’s Least Understood Animals
Here’s how! open.substack.com/pub/jasonbit...
GRIZZLED: Love Letters to 50 of North America’s Least Understood Animals
Here’s how! open.substack.com/pub/jasonbit...
GRIZZLED Pre-Orders Are 25% Off!
The sale only lasts 3 days! Tell everyone you know!
open.substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Good news! From now until January 1, you can get 25% off your pre-order of my new book!!! 🧪🐻🦑🦉🐜🐍🦀
GRIZZLED: Love Letters to 50 of North America’s Least Understood Animals
Here’s how! open.substack.com/pub/jasonbit...
GRIZZLED: Love Letters to 50 of North America’s Least Understood Animals
Here’s how! open.substack.com/pub/jasonbit...
When your secret Santa gift can only be opened under water and outdoors 🤣😳
December 29, 2025 at 5:32 PM
When your secret Santa gift can only be opened under water and outdoors 🤣😳
Bernie Mac and the oranges. IFYKYK.
December 25, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Bernie Mac and the oranges. IFYKYK.
I have never managed to do a year-end thread of my favorite stories of the year. And guess what!
2025 ain’t going to be the year either.
Here’s to everyone out there hanging on by a thread.
Keep on keeping on.
2025 ain’t going to be the year either.
Here’s to everyone out there hanging on by a thread.
Keep on keeping on.
December 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I have never managed to do a year-end thread of my favorite stories of the year. And guess what!
2025 ain’t going to be the year either.
Here’s to everyone out there hanging on by a thread.
Keep on keeping on.
2025 ain’t going to be the year either.
Here’s to everyone out there hanging on by a thread.
Keep on keeping on.
Reposted by Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
How lucky are we that giants still exist? 🧪🐟
BIGGEST Longnose Gar for the @garlab.bsky.social team!
At 60.5 inches (154 cm), this fish was a true giant for its species.
Caught-tagged-released, it will help us learn more about river-floodplain connectivity👍
I’m aiming the fish toward our collaborators’ sonar, so we can track/measure it! 🧪🐟
At 60.5 inches (154 cm), this fish was a true giant for its species.
Caught-tagged-released, it will help us learn more about river-floodplain connectivity👍
I’m aiming the fish toward our collaborators’ sonar, so we can track/measure it! 🧪🐟
December 19, 2025 at 5:43 PM
How lucky are we that giants still exist? 🧪🐟
Thank you to Kayla Fisk for teaching me about a bit of bird anatomy I'd never heard of before -- the little bump on the bottom bill known as a "gonys" -- and which definitely doesn't remind me of the Plumbus segment on Rick & Morty.
More about Kayla! 🧪🦉 kaylafisk.com/about/
More about Kayla! 🧪🦉 kaylafisk.com/about/
December 19, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Thank you to Kayla Fisk for teaching me about a bit of bird anatomy I'd never heard of before -- the little bump on the bottom bill known as a "gonys" -- and which definitely doesn't remind me of the Plumbus segment on Rick & Morty.
More about Kayla! 🧪🦉 kaylafisk.com/about/
More about Kayla! 🧪🦉 kaylafisk.com/about/
Reposted by Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
Hagfish (and other jawless fishes) are fascinating to me! A little freaky, but in an “I need to know more” way!
December 18, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Hagfish (and other jawless fishes) are fascinating to me! A little freaky, but in an “I need to know more” way!
All I want for Christmas is tiger beetles. 🧪
#TigerBeetles — the #Christmas lights of the #insect world! #biodiversity
(Fig. 1 from Duran et al. 2020)
doi.org/10.3390/genes1…
(Fig. 1 from Duran et al. 2020)
doi.org/10.3390/genes1…
December 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
All I want for Christmas is tiger beetles. 🧪
I've been writing a kids' book about the Arctic and Antarctic, and thus thinking in Mr. Freeze gifs, and wow, this is cool.
EVERYTHING FREEZES. 🧪
EVERYTHING FREEZES. 🧪
Take a journey through time down a new NSF COLDEX ice core borehole just completed by the team in #Antarctica!
If you’re at #AGU25 stop by the COLDEX booth in the Exhibit Hall to talk to COLDEX team members from across the 15-institution center funded by NSF! @agu.org Follow us on IG @ coldex_stc
If you’re at #AGU25 stop by the COLDEX booth in the Exhibit Hall to talk to COLDEX team members from across the 15-institution center funded by NSF! @agu.org Follow us on IG @ coldex_stc
December 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I've been writing a kids' book about the Arctic and Antarctic, and thus thinking in Mr. Freeze gifs, and wow, this is cool.
EVERYTHING FREEZES. 🧪
EVERYTHING FREEZES. 🧪
Okay, this is bonkers, but also the video (in @twigtechnology.bsky.social's second skeet) looks like the flash reveal you'd get half an hour into a monster/alien movie.
Absolute wow. 🧪
Absolute wow. 🧪
I’m struggling to believe this NASA-published photo of red sprite lightning in France is real, but it seems to be so.
Red sprites can appear very briefly above thunderstorms, exciting high atmospheric gases to produce vivid colour and form. Who needs aliens? 🧪⚡️🛸
📷 Nicholas Escurat, 3 Sept 2022
Red sprites can appear very briefly above thunderstorms, exciting high atmospheric gases to produce vivid colour and form. Who needs aliens? 🧪⚡️🛸
📷 Nicholas Escurat, 3 Sept 2022
December 18, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Okay, this is bonkers, but also the video (in @twigtechnology.bsky.social's second skeet) looks like the flash reveal you'd get half an hour into a monster/alien movie.
Absolute wow. 🧪
Absolute wow. 🧪
Reposted by Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
Right whales got the moniker not because they were good at trivia night.
It was a way of saying "hunt this one right here" in whaler speak. They swam slowly, surfaced often, floated after death & had large fat deposits for oil.
80% of the global population were killed between 1835-1855.
It was a way of saying "hunt this one right here" in whaler speak. They swam slowly, surfaced often, floated after death & had large fat deposits for oil.
80% of the global population were killed between 1835-1855.
A rare right whale spotted off Ireland resurfaces near Boston
A rare right whale spotted off Ireland resurfaces near Boston
In a rare sighting, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, first photographed in 2024 off the coast of Ireland, was recently reidentified near Boston, U.S., on Nov. 19. This is the first…
news.mongabay.com
December 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Right whales got the moniker not because they were good at trivia night.
It was a way of saying "hunt this one right here" in whaler speak. They swam slowly, surfaced often, floated after death & had large fat deposits for oil.
80% of the global population were killed between 1835-1855.
It was a way of saying "hunt this one right here" in whaler speak. They swam slowly, surfaced often, floated after death & had large fat deposits for oil.
80% of the global population were killed between 1835-1855.
Sometimes it's just good to remember that these little dudes exist. That is all.
December 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Sometimes it's just good to remember that these little dudes exist. That is all.
Studies like this always make me think about how much I don't know about the world, & how much better off we'd all be if more people knew what they didn't know. 🧪🐙
by @theoceanwriter.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/biological-c...
by @theoceanwriter.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/biological-c...
This octopus pigment could lead to a more sustainable sunscreen
A new metabolic engineering technique makes xanthommatin cheaper and easy to produce
cen.acs.org
December 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Studies like this always make me think about how much I don't know about the world, & how much better off we'd all be if more people knew what they didn't know. 🧪🐙
by @theoceanwriter.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/biological-c...
by @theoceanwriter.bsky.social for @cenmag.bsky.social
cen.acs.org/biological-c...
Reposted by Jason GRIZZLED Bittel
I was just chatting with an extremely intelligent and educated master's student who admitted he had no idea how insects reproduced or if jellyfish were considered animals. And it was a good reminder for me that huge segments of the population do not know all the things, but they want to. 🧪
December 12, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I was just chatting with an extremely intelligent and educated master's student who admitted he had no idea how insects reproduced or if jellyfish were considered animals. And it was a good reminder for me that huge segments of the population do not know all the things, but they want to. 🧪
I was just chatting with an extremely intelligent and educated master's student who admitted he had no idea how insects reproduced or if jellyfish were considered animals. And it was a good reminder for me that huge segments of the population do not know all the things, but they want to. 🧪
December 12, 2025 at 7:48 PM
I was just chatting with an extremely intelligent and educated master's student who admitted he had no idea how insects reproduced or if jellyfish were considered animals. And it was a good reminder for me that huge segments of the population do not know all the things, but they want to. 🧪
I got to write about the DH pupfish once! And I always remember that one of the threats to their continued existence is occasional earthquakes thousands of miles away. 🧪
www.nrdc.org/stories/shou...
www.nrdc.org/stories/shou...
December 11, 2025 at 7:22 PM
I got to write about the DH pupfish once! And I always remember that one of the threats to their continued existence is occasional earthquakes thousands of miles away. 🧪
www.nrdc.org/stories/shou...
www.nrdc.org/stories/shou...
"... people exposed to greater light at night faced significantly higher risks of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, & atrial fibrillation, even after accounting for factors like sleep duration." @lynnepeeps.bsky.social for Nat Geo!! 🧪
www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic...
www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic...
Holiday lights are getting brighter—and messing with our sleep
Researchers say that choosing better bulbs and being intentional about where you place them can make a real difference.
www.nationalgeographic.com
December 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
"... people exposed to greater light at night faced significantly higher risks of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, & atrial fibrillation, even after accounting for factors like sleep duration." @lynnepeeps.bsky.social for Nat Geo!! 🧪
www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic...
www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic...
Day dream question for the 🧪 hive —
Donating blood is one of the best (only?) ways for the body to get rid of forever chemicals.
But one of the medications I’m on notes prohibits me from donating.
So, uh, how can I get rid of some of my blood? Safely, preferably.
🩸💉
Donating blood is one of the best (only?) ways for the body to get rid of forever chemicals.
But one of the medications I’m on notes prohibits me from donating.
So, uh, how can I get rid of some of my blood? Safely, preferably.
🩸💉
December 11, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Day dream question for the 🧪 hive —
Donating blood is one of the best (only?) ways for the body to get rid of forever chemicals.
But one of the medications I’m on notes prohibits me from donating.
So, uh, how can I get rid of some of my blood? Safely, preferably.
🩸💉
Donating blood is one of the best (only?) ways for the body to get rid of forever chemicals.
But one of the medications I’m on notes prohibits me from donating.
So, uh, how can I get rid of some of my blood? Safely, preferably.
🩸💉