Barbara J. King
@bjking.bsky.social
Anthropologist; animal advocate; science writer, next book coming on cats; caretaker of aging cats. Books include How Animals Grieve; Animals' Best Friends: Putting Compassion to Work for Animals; see www.barbarajking.com for more.
Pinned
Big day for me- my manuscript on cats' lives and wellbeing is (after revising and revising to make it the best book I can make it) going out for peer review! Here's the dedication. I'll post more news of the book as it happens. #cats #Booksky #writing #freelance #writingcommunity
"Cats are more independent, which limits emotional bonding"-- just one place where I think this analysis goes very wrong. Cats do not show love in dogs' ways. But to say there is limited emotional bonding tells me... these folks DO NOT KNOW CATS! #cats #animals #anthrozoology #humananimalstudies
Are pets good for kids’ mental health? Type of animal and duration of bond could make all the difference
Out study found that dogs and cats are not the same in this regard.
theconversation.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:08 PM
"Cats are more independent, which limits emotional bonding"-- just one place where I think this analysis goes very wrong. Cats do not show love in dogs' ways. But to say there is limited emotional bonding tells me... these folks DO NOT KNOW CATS! #cats #animals #anthrozoology #humananimalstudies
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Trans and queer people still exist and their historic actions deserve to be remembered.
And honestly will be, whatever these silly people try to hide
And honestly will be, whatever these silly people try to hide
The Trump administration has stopped flying a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument
Trump administration takes down a rainbow flag at the Stonewall National Monument
www.inquirer.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Trans and queer people still exist and their historic actions deserve to be remembered.
And honestly will be, whatever these silly people try to hide
And honestly will be, whatever these silly people try to hide
On the war that came to Ukraine, and former pet dogs: "Dogs on the front line, in a remarkably short period of time, had become more like wild dog species, such as wolves, coyotes or dingoes." Lead researcher Mariia Martsiv, journalist Anthony Ham. #dogs #Ukraine #zoology #ecology #anthropology
War Came to Ukraine and Its Dogs Are Not the Same
www.nytimes.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:54 PM
On the war that came to Ukraine, and former pet dogs: "Dogs on the front line, in a remarkably short period of time, had become more like wild dog species, such as wolves, coyotes or dingoes." Lead researcher Mariia Martsiv, journalist Anthony Ham. #dogs #Ukraine #zoology #ecology #anthropology
I loved every minute of Bad Bunny's Superbowl halftime show, including his naming every country on the American continent, and while I don't so often link to CNN, this headline does it for me. The piece is by Alli Rosenbloom. #BadBunny #Superbowl #Superbowlhalftimeshow #America
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show performance redefined what it means to be an American patriot | CNN
In just over 13 minutes worth of music, stars and symbolism, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny rewrote what it means to be American in a time of strife.
www.cnn.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I loved every minute of Bad Bunny's Superbowl halftime show, including his naming every country on the American continent, and while I don't so often link to CNN, this headline does it for me. The piece is by Alli Rosenbloom. #BadBunny #Superbowl #Superbowlhalftimeshow #America
Answers to questions no one asked: What was the worst part, when do you forget her, does grief have a half-life. -- This week my #SundaySentence is by Aja Gabel @ajagabel.bsky.social in her novel Lightbreakers. #Booksky
February 8, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Answers to questions no one asked: What was the worst part, when do you forget her, does grief have a half-life. -- This week my #SundaySentence is by Aja Gabel @ajagabel.bsky.social in her novel Lightbreakers. #Booksky
+1 Jessica Grose: 'As a woman, I cannot imagine taking expert health advice from Attia seriously at this point, given the gross and dehumanizing way he talked about the female anatomy in his emails with Epstein,' + necessary broader skepticism. #PeterAttia #Epsteinfiles #longevity #health #sexism
Opinion | Peter Attia, the Epstein Files and the Lie Propping Up Big Wellness
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:55 PM
+1 Jessica Grose: 'As a woman, I cannot imagine taking expert health advice from Attia seriously at this point, given the gross and dehumanizing way he talked about the female anatomy in his emails with Epstein,' + necessary broader skepticism. #PeterAttia #Epsteinfiles #longevity #health #sexism
Reposted by Barbara J. King
#Siskins #fighting over their now clean #sunflower #heart feeder. #siskin #bird #birds #birdphotography #photography #wildlife #flight #DartmoorNationalPark
February 6, 2026 at 6:46 PM
#Siskins #fighting over their now clean #sunflower #heart feeder. #siskin #bird #birds #birdphotography #photography #wildlife #flight #DartmoorNationalPark
Intriguing research about Kanzi Bonobo, regarding pretend play in a shared context. I don't understand why numerous other examples (wild and captive) are so readily dismissed. Aren't we yet able to recognize the value of qualitative-research cases? #apes #primates #animalcognition #anthropology
Evidence for representation of pretend objects by Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo
Secondary representations enable our minds to depart from the here-and-now and generate imaginary, hypothetical, or alternate possibilities that are decoupled from reality, supporting many of our rich...
www.science.org
February 6, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Intriguing research about Kanzi Bonobo, regarding pretend play in a shared context. I don't understand why numerous other examples (wild and captive) are so readily dismissed. Aren't we yet able to recognize the value of qualitative-research cases? #apes #primates #animalcognition #anthropology
Reposted by Barbara J. King
📢 ACTION NEEDED TODAY!
Please submit comments to ohsuboard@ohsu.edu with the subject line "For public comment." Ask OHSU’s Board to approve the resolution & permit negotiations with NIH for the proposed phase-out and sanctuary plan.
#AnimalRights #AnimalWelfare
Please submit comments to ohsuboard@ohsu.edu with the subject line "For public comment." Ask OHSU’s Board to approve the resolution & permit negotiations with NIH for the proposed phase-out and sanctuary plan.
#AnimalRights #AnimalWelfare
February 5, 2026 at 5:52 PM
📢 ACTION NEEDED TODAY!
Please submit comments to ohsuboard@ohsu.edu with the subject line "For public comment." Ask OHSU’s Board to approve the resolution & permit negotiations with NIH for the proposed phase-out and sanctuary plan.
#AnimalRights #AnimalWelfare
Please submit comments to ohsuboard@ohsu.edu with the subject line "For public comment." Ask OHSU’s Board to approve the resolution & permit negotiations with NIH for the proposed phase-out and sanctuary plan.
#AnimalRights #AnimalWelfare
Layoffs happening to Wash. Post journalists who are let go--- hundreds of them--- are just terrible. As a book critic, my heart breaks for this news about the book coverage going away. I'm so sorry for everyone's pain through this. #Booksky #books #bookreview #WashingtonPost #journalism
WashPo Shutters Books Section Amid Widespread Layoffs
After weeks of rumors about layoffs, the Washington Post told employees Wednesday morning that the paper, owned by Jeff Bezos, is eliminating its books section, Book World, which was relaunched in 202...
www.publishersweekly.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Layoffs happening to Wash. Post journalists who are let go--- hundreds of them--- are just terrible. As a book critic, my heart breaks for this news about the book coverage going away. I'm so sorry for everyone's pain through this. #Booksky #books #bookreview #WashingtonPost #journalism
"During and after these extreme rain events, white-backed swallows remained in their burrows even during the daytime. And they entered deep and long bouts of torpor – far exceeding what passerine birds were thought capable of." By Alice Barratt & Christopher Turbill. #birds #ornithology #climate 🧪
Tiny radio transmitters reveal a hidden survival tactic in birds
The white-backed swallow survives the extreme temperatures of inland Australia by reducing its body temperature to save energy.
theconversation.com
February 4, 2026 at 4:08 PM
"During and after these extreme rain events, white-backed swallows remained in their burrows even during the daytime. And they entered deep and long bouts of torpor – far exceeding what passerine birds were thought capable of." By Alice Barratt & Christopher Turbill. #birds #ornithology #climate 🧪
Very cool work that highlights individuals' lives and not just "mummies": Dr. Summer Decker's team "analyzed the various anatomical structures and used 3-D printers to create life-size reproductions of their spines, skulls and hips." #radiology #archaeology #anthropology #health 🏺
What Do You Get When You Put a Mummy Through a CT Scan?
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Very cool work that highlights individuals' lives and not just "mummies": Dr. Summer Decker's team "analyzed the various anatomical structures and used 3-D printers to create life-size reproductions of their spines, skulls and hips." #radiology #archaeology #anthropology #health 🏺
This field course is an amazing opportunity- Dr. Liv Baker is a colleague, a force for animals, and a wonderful educator and human. Please share! #elephants #Asianelephants #animalbehavior #conservation #fieldcourse
Applications are now open for Mahouts Elephant Foundation's Asian Elephant Behavior and Community-Driven Conservation field-course!
Join PAN Works' own Dr. Liv Baker in Thailand to explore the science of animal behaviour and well-being in conservation.
#animals #wellbeing #conservation #elephants
Join PAN Works' own Dr. Liv Baker in Thailand to explore the science of animal behaviour and well-being in conservation.
#animals #wellbeing #conservation #elephants
Mahouts Elephant Foundation: 2026 Field Course
Applications are now open!
medium.com
February 2, 2026 at 7:51 PM
This field course is an amazing opportunity- Dr. Liv Baker is a colleague, a force for animals, and a wonderful educator and human. Please share! #elephants #Asianelephants #animalbehavior #conservation #fieldcourse
Finally a decent capture of the yellow-bellied sapsucker who comes to our oak tree. #birds #birding #nature #naturephotography
February 2, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Finally a decent capture of the yellow-bellied sapsucker who comes to our oak tree. #birds #birding #nature #naturephotography
Reposted by Barbara J. King
My #sundaysentence this week is a black basket-weaver, a sharecropper's daughter, observing Confederate reenactors in South Carolina in the late 1990s: "They can remember that war all they want," she said, "so long's they remember they lost."
February 1, 2026 at 11:19 AM
My #sundaysentence this week is a black basket-weaver, a sharecropper's daughter, observing Confederate reenactors in South Carolina in the late 1990s: "They can remember that war all they want," she said, "so long's they remember they lost."
Wake up, wake up, the world is hard and it rushes on regardless of your heart, and people never take the shape you want them to, people are stubborn about that, about being themselves, even when they're trying to be someone else. #SundaySentence, Donal Ryan, Strange Flowers. Gorgeous novel.
February 1, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Wake up, wake up, the world is hard and it rushes on regardless of your heart, and people never take the shape you want them to, people are stubborn about that, about being themselves, even when they're trying to be someone else. #SundaySentence, Donal Ryan, Strange Flowers. Gorgeous novel.
I love @levistahl.bsky.social's sensibility here about Chicago's great lake. My own neighbor (in southeastern Virginia) is a river, also a great presence, abundant with life. #nature #lakes #rivers #winter
Our snowy winter lake. We get to have this as part of our city every day, right there to look at, one of our neighbors.
January 31, 2026 at 1:52 PM
I love @levistahl.bsky.social's sensibility here about Chicago's great lake. My own neighbor (in southeastern Virginia) is a river, also a great presence, abundant with life. #nature #lakes #rivers #winter
Simon Van Booy's novel Sipsworth is a wonderful tale of a lonely older woman and a mouse who befriend each other- with some surprises along the way regarding how women in their 80s may be stereotyped--and of course, mice too. #books #Booksky #mouse #rodents #animalhuman #animalstudies #multispecies
January 30, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Simon Van Booy's novel Sipsworth is a wonderful tale of a lonely older woman and a mouse who befriend each other- with some surprises along the way regarding how women in their 80s may be stereotyped--and of course, mice too. #books #Booksky #mouse #rodents #animalhuman #animalstudies #multispecies
Not a surprise, but, awareness is key: "Facial recognition is just one technology tool that ICE has deployed in Minneapolis.... the technologies are being used not only to identify undocumented immigrants but also to track citizens who have protested." #Minneapolis #facialrecognition #ICE
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Not a surprise, but, awareness is key: "Facial recognition is just one technology tool that ICE has deployed in Minneapolis.... the technologies are being used not only to identify undocumented immigrants but also to track citizens who have protested." #Minneapolis #facialrecognition #ICE
Excited to have my copy of The Big M: 13 Writers Take Back the Story of Menopause. Thank you @lidiamiles.bsky.social for this beautiful vision of a book. #Booksky #books #nonfiction #menopause #writing #writingcommunity
January 29, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Excited to have my copy of The Big M: 13 Writers Take Back the Story of Menopause. Thank you @lidiamiles.bsky.social for this beautiful vision of a book. #Booksky #books #nonfiction #menopause #writing #writingcommunity
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Look, whether I find an agent or not, I have at least a dozen professional and friendly connections who know Bill Nye that I'm about to pester
And I'm going to try like hell to make my dream of Dr. Jey the Science They a reality
We need engaging, fun, education science media more than ever
And I'm going to try like hell to make my dream of Dr. Jey the Science They a reality
We need engaging, fun, education science media more than ever
🚨 Requesting help:
I am looking for an agent who can facilitate more speaking gigs, podcast appearances, and interviews with journalists
I want to more widely share my story and expertise as a trans geneticist who understands the reality and complexity of "biological sex" 🏳️⚧️🧬
Please signal boost?
I am looking for an agent who can facilitate more speaking gigs, podcast appearances, and interviews with journalists
I want to more widely share my story and expertise as a trans geneticist who understands the reality and complexity of "biological sex" 🏳️⚧️🧬
Please signal boost?
January 29, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Look, whether I find an agent or not, I have at least a dozen professional and friendly connections who know Bill Nye that I'm about to pester
And I'm going to try like hell to make my dream of Dr. Jey the Science They a reality
We need engaging, fun, education science media more than ever
And I'm going to try like hell to make my dream of Dr. Jey the Science They a reality
We need engaging, fun, education science media more than ever