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
Why Won’t Nora The Leopard Seal Abandon Her Dead Pups? | Defector
In the fall of 2021, Renato Borras-Chavez, a marine mammal ecologist at the University of Rhode Island, spotted a leopard seal on an ice floe. Borras-Chavez was on a research expedition to a glacial f...
defector.com
Thanks to @sabs.bsky.social for inviting my thoughts on leopard-seal moms' behaviors at pup death, reported by Sperou et al.; I ask, shouldn't maternal grief (not only post-mortem attention) be considered in peer-reviewed science? #animalemotion #pinnipeds #wildlife #polarbiology #multispecies 🧪
Reposted by Barbara J. King
No, not shared in my house, nor in millions of other US households; this country is still rooted in freedom of religious expression (including atheism, obviously). Really we can't stay silent with this stuff coming at us. #separationofchurchandstate #atheist #ACLU @aclu.org
December 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
No, not shared in my house, nor in millions of other US households; this country is still rooted in freedom of religious expression (including atheism, obviously). Really we can't stay silent with this stuff coming at us. #separationofchurchandstate #atheist #ACLU @aclu.org
No, not shared in my house, nor in millions of other US households; this country is still rooted in freedom of religious expression (including atheism, obviously). Really we can't stay silent with this stuff coming at us. #separationofchurchandstate #atheist #ACLU @aclu.org
December 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
No, not shared in my house, nor in millions of other US households; this country is still rooted in freedom of religious expression (including atheism, obviously). Really we can't stay silent with this stuff coming at us. #separationofchurchandstate #atheist #ACLU @aclu.org
Reposted by Barbara J. King
No offense to friends and family but my favorite part of Christmas was probably the nap I took with my best girl.
December 25, 2025 at 11:54 PM
No offense to friends and family but my favorite part of Christmas was probably the nap I took with my best girl.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to everyone out there caring for animals today, indoors or outdoors, domestic or wild, rescued or in need of rescue. Thank you! This is our beautiful Caroline. #animals #cats #animalrescue #multispecies #MerryChristmas
December 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to everyone out there caring for animals today, indoors or outdoors, domestic or wild, rescued or in need of rescue. Thank you! This is our beautiful Caroline. #animals #cats #animalrescue #multispecies #MerryChristmas
Any other moderately immunocompromised folks here who still mask and need to negotiate family gatherings where almost all others do not? This feels like a never-ending scenario and it's kind of tiring! Yes I am COVID cautious but it's flu et al. also #immunocompromised #masking #publichealth #health
December 24, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Any other moderately immunocompromised folks here who still mask and need to negotiate family gatherings where almost all others do not? This feels like a never-ending scenario and it's kind of tiring! Yes I am COVID cautious but it's flu et al. also #immunocompromised #masking #publichealth #health
Reposted by Barbara J. King
December 24, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Barbara J. King
I ran into one of my first year students at the new books section of our college library. My favorite bookstore, I said, and it’s all free! She looked confused. “What do you mean?” she asked. She was stunned to learn you could check books out. Nobody had ever told her.
Today I helped someone at the library who didn't know you could borrow items for free. She gave me her library card and $40 to pay for the books. Was delighted when I said everything is free to use.
I'd never encountered that before. I assumed people just knew library items were free and public.
I'd never encountered that before. I assumed people just knew library items were free and public.
December 23, 2025 at 11:33 PM
I ran into one of my first year students at the new books section of our college library. My favorite bookstore, I said, and it’s all free! She looked confused. “What do you mean?” she asked. She was stunned to learn you could check books out. Nobody had ever told her.
Thank you @nytimes.com Magazine for including bonobo Kanzi in your remembrance of artists and innovators who died in 2025. I expected Jane Goodall, of course, but delighted to see you embrace a #multispecies memorial. #primates #Kanzi #JaneGoodall #anthropology #death #deathstudies
The Lives They Lived (Gift Article)
Remembering some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year.
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Thank you @nytimes.com Magazine for including bonobo Kanzi in your remembrance of artists and innovators who died in 2025. I expected Jane Goodall, of course, but delighted to see you embrace a #multispecies memorial. #primates #Kanzi #JaneGoodall #anthropology #death #deathstudies
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Su Blackwell, UK artist who works with disgarded books to create paper sculptures often based on fairy tales and nature
#WomensArt 🎄❄️
#WomensArt 🎄❄️
December 20, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Su Blackwell, UK artist who works with disgarded books to create paper sculptures often based on fairy tales and nature
#WomensArt 🎄❄️
#WomensArt 🎄❄️
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Emma Haworth, contemporary UK painter known for her observations of parks, with a hint of otherworldliness #womensart
December 22, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Emma Haworth, contemporary UK painter known for her observations of parks, with a hint of otherworldliness #womensart
Reposted by Barbara J. King
'Stag in the birches'
by printmaker Celia Lewis #WomensArt ❄️
by printmaker Celia Lewis #WomensArt ❄️
December 22, 2025 at 8:53 AM
'Stag in the birches'
by printmaker Celia Lewis #WomensArt ❄️
by printmaker Celia Lewis #WomensArt ❄️
Reposted by Barbara J. King
"The light was no more than a mean and taunting reminder of what light could be, a rumor of what light there once was."
– a #SundaySentence from Kevin Barry's The Heart in Winter, once again, because the book could supply Sunday Sentences to last several glorious years.
– a #SundaySentence from Kevin Barry's The Heart in Winter, once again, because the book could supply Sunday Sentences to last several glorious years.
December 21, 2025 at 12:38 PM
"The light was no more than a mean and taunting reminder of what light could be, a rumor of what light there once was."
– a #SundaySentence from Kevin Barry's The Heart in Winter, once again, because the book could supply Sunday Sentences to last several glorious years.
– a #SundaySentence from Kevin Barry's The Heart in Winter, once again, because the book could supply Sunday Sentences to last several glorious years.
It's an unpleasant feeling, having this anger at someone who is dying. -- This week's #SundaySentence is from Lily King's gorgeous Heart the Lover. #Booksky
December 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
It's an unpleasant feeling, having this anger at someone who is dying. -- This week's #SundaySentence is from Lily King's gorgeous Heart the Lover. #Booksky
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Have you heard of #SmallBirdSaturday ??
Join in and have fun!
The little ones are worth it 🥰
#BirdOfTheDay #Quietmoments #colourfulcaptures #birds #birding #wildlife #SensoryArt #moments #photography #nature #thelittlethings #EastCoastKin
Join in and have fun!
The little ones are worth it 🥰
#BirdOfTheDay #Quietmoments #colourfulcaptures #birds #birding #wildlife #SensoryArt #moments #photography #nature #thelittlethings #EastCoastKin
December 20, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Have you heard of #SmallBirdSaturday ??
Join in and have fun!
The little ones are worth it 🥰
#BirdOfTheDay #Quietmoments #colourfulcaptures #birds #birding #wildlife #SensoryArt #moments #photography #nature #thelittlethings #EastCoastKin
Join in and have fun!
The little ones are worth it 🥰
#BirdOfTheDay #Quietmoments #colourfulcaptures #birds #birding #wildlife #SensoryArt #moments #photography #nature #thelittlethings #EastCoastKin
Reposted by Barbara J. King
The US East Coast - one of the places that ice lost from Greenland ends up. Counterintuitively, places far from where land ice is lost are most impacted by the resulting sea level rise.
The drumbeat remains - mitigation + adaptation.
The drumbeat remains - mitigation + adaptation.
'Another unoccupied house collapsed into the ocean along North Carolina's Outer Banks on Saturday night. It's the 11th house to collapse since mid-September.
In total, 22 homes have collapsed into the ocean in the area since 2020.'
via AccuWeather [X] #ClimateCrisis #SeaLevel
In total, 22 homes have collapsed into the ocean in the area since 2020.'
via AccuWeather [X] #ClimateCrisis #SeaLevel
October 21, 2025 at 7:28 PM
The US East Coast - one of the places that ice lost from Greenland ends up. Counterintuitively, places far from where land ice is lost are most impacted by the resulting sea level rise.
The drumbeat remains - mitigation + adaptation.
The drumbeat remains - mitigation + adaptation.
Visit of a red-bellied woodpecker to our front oak tree is a great way to start a morning. #birds #woodpeckers #birding #nature
December 19, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Visit of a red-bellied woodpecker to our front oak tree is a great way to start a morning. #birds #woodpeckers #birding #nature
Reposted by Barbara J. King
My beautiful Finnegan (brother of Phoebe), for Day 17 of #ArtAdventCalendar 🐈⬛❤️
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #CatsOfBluesky #Cats #DailyArt #ArtYear #SmArtist #OnlyBeautifulThings #SensoryArt #Moments #AlphabetChallenge #WeekYforYearPast
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #CatsOfBluesky #Cats #DailyArt #ArtYear #SmArtist #OnlyBeautifulThings #SensoryArt #Moments #AlphabetChallenge #WeekYforYearPast
December 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM
My beautiful Finnegan (brother of Phoebe), for Day 17 of #ArtAdventCalendar 🐈⬛❤️
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #CatsOfBluesky #Cats #DailyArt #ArtYear #SmArtist #OnlyBeautifulThings #SensoryArt #Moments #AlphabetChallenge #WeekYforYearPast
#EastCoastKin #PhotographersUnited #PhotographersOfBluesky #Photography #CatsOfBluesky #Cats #DailyArt #ArtYear #SmArtist #OnlyBeautifulThings #SensoryArt #Moments #AlphabetChallenge #WeekYforYearPast
Excited in the new year to read (and am assigned to review!) this biography of the pioneering wildlife biologist and conservationist George Schaller, by Miriam Horn. Coming in April. #Booksky #wildlife #wildlifebiology #conservation #gorillas #bookreview
Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller
The Life of George B. Schaller
bookshop.org
December 17, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Excited in the new year to read (and am assigned to review!) this biography of the pioneering wildlife biologist and conservationist George Schaller, by Miriam Horn. Coming in April. #Booksky #wildlife #wildlifebiology #conservation #gorillas #bookreview
Remarkable bird science! Urban juncos developed shorter beaks over time, but "when UCLA.’s campus shut down during the pandemic, something remarkable happened: The beaks of juncos born on campus reverted to their wildland shape." #birds #birding #multispecies #pandemic #evolutionarybiology 🧪
How the Pandemic Lockdowns Changed a Songbird’s Beak
www.nytimes.com
December 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Remarkable bird science! Urban juncos developed shorter beaks over time, but "when UCLA.’s campus shut down during the pandemic, something remarkable happened: The beaks of juncos born on campus reverted to their wildland shape." #birds #birding #multispecies #pandemic #evolutionarybiology 🧪
Yannis Baladi on how working for chimpanzees and monkeys a an African primate sanctuary changed his life. (The headline @theguardian.com SHOULD clarify: NOT living with a baby monkey as a pet.) #primates #anthropology #animalrescue #animalsanctuary #primatesarenotpets
‘I consider him my first son’: how living with a baby monkey taught me I’m ready to be a dad
I went from selling flats in Paris to being alone in a cabin in Guinea looking after primates. It changed my life, but one relationship marked me like no other
www.theguardian.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Yannis Baladi on how working for chimpanzees and monkeys a an African primate sanctuary changed his life. (The headline @theguardian.com SHOULD clarify: NOT living with a baby monkey as a pet.) #primates #anthropology #animalrescue #animalsanctuary #primatesarenotpets
This is terrible news. I can't vouch for accuracy of the homicide details, but multiple sources at this point do confirm Rob Reiner and wife Michele Reiner have been murdered. #RobReiner
Rob Reiner and His Wife Michele Were Killed by Their Son: (Exclusive Sources)
Rob Reiner and his wife were killed by their son, Nick, multiple sources confirm to PEOPLE. Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead inside their Brentwood, Calif., home on Dec. 14. Authorities a...
people.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:11 AM
This is terrible news. I can't vouch for accuracy of the homicide details, but multiple sources at this point do confirm Rob Reiner and wife Michele Reiner have been murdered. #RobReiner
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Arkady Renko ranks among my favorite characters in fiction, and i was so sad with Cruz’s passing this year. Just now read his last one. My #sundaysentence: “Regardless of denomination, a church always felt as though it needed its windows opened”
December 14, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Arkady Renko ranks among my favorite characters in fiction, and i was so sad with Cruz’s passing this year. Just now read his last one. My #sundaysentence: “Regardless of denomination, a church always felt as though it needed its windows opened”