John Orcutt
@jdorcutt.bsky.social
Northwesterner, paleobiologisr, traveler, aspiring comeback trombone artist of the year.
Happy #FossilFriday from the Bonavista Peninsula of Newfoundland, home of several important Ediacaran localities within the fantastic Discovery Global Geopark!
August 15, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Happy #FossilFriday from the Bonavista Peninsula of Newfoundland, home of several important Ediacaran localities within the fantastic Discovery Global Geopark!
Longtime wildlife-viewing aspiration achieved (at Port au Choix National Historic Site, Newfoundland)!
August 12, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Longtime wildlife-viewing aspiration achieved (at Port au Choix National Historic Site, Newfoundland)!
What does a paleontologist do when they’re on vacation? Go look at fossils! Is it healthy? Probably not, but when a museum does as fantastic a job with their exhibits as the @romtoronto.bsky.social, how could I resist spending part of a long Toronto layover there?
August 7, 2025 at 12:24 AM
What does a paleontologist do when they’re on vacation? Go look at fossils! Is it healthy? Probably not, but when a museum does as fantastic a job with their exhibits as the @romtoronto.bsky.social, how could I resist spending part of a long Toronto layover there?
Always a pleasure to find myself back "home" at the @burkemuseum.bsky.social, especially on #FossilFriday!
July 18, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Always a pleasure to find myself back "home" at the @burkemuseum.bsky.social, especially on #FossilFriday!
Denisovan was a man. I mean, he was a Dragon Man.
First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like
Ancient proteins and calcified dental plaque identify heavy-browed fossil from China as a Denisovan.
www.nature.com
June 19, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Denisovan was a man. I mean, he was a Dragon Man.
A few glimpses of a Salish Sea spring before jetting off to an African savanna winter (taken at Seattle's Ballard Locks and the Anacortes ferry terminal)
May 11, 2025 at 5:36 PM
A few glimpses of a Salish Sea spring before jetting off to an African savanna winter (taken at Seattle's Ballard Locks and the Anacortes ferry terminal)
Reposted by John Orcutt
As of this #FossilFriday, I'm officially hosting a symposium on Afrotheria at next year's IPC in Cape Town! There's still a lot to work out, but if you work on elephants, sea cows, aardvarks or any of their relatives (and can make it to South Africa) please consider being a part of this session!
April 4, 2025 at 7:09 PM
As of this #FossilFriday, I'm officially hosting a symposium on Afrotheria at next year's IPC in Cape Town! There's still a lot to work out, but if you work on elephants, sea cows, aardvarks or any of their relatives (and can make it to South Africa) please consider being a part of this session!
Reposted by John Orcutt
One of the perks of doing research at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is getting to stroll through the exhibits afterwards. Besides telling a great story about climate change and evolution, they are a textbook example of how great paleoart can elevate a paleontology display.
March 14, 2025 at 2:35 AM
One of the perks of doing research at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is getting to stroll through the exhibits afterwards. Besides telling a great story about climate change and evolution, they are a textbook example of how great paleoart can elevate a paleontology display.
Reposted by John Orcutt
The lab is working on describing some carnivores from Oregon's John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, so I had an excuse to run down to one of our planet's more dramatic fossiliferous landscapes (and my old stomping grounds) over our Spring Break.
March 12, 2025 at 7:25 PM
The lab is working on describing some carnivores from Oregon's John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, so I had an excuse to run down to one of our planet's more dramatic fossiliferous landscapes (and my old stomping grounds) over our Spring Break.
Following up on my earlier announcement of a lab Bluesky page, I wanted to share our first post, which naturally had to feature long-time friend of the lab Teleoceras.
Hello from the Morphology & Ecology Across Time Lab at @gonzagauniversity.bsky.social! We use the fossil record to explore the evolution of mammals and the forces that drive it. Follow us for research updates, news, and fossil photos (like this one of the rhino Teleoceras in the Carnegie Museum)!
March 5, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Following up on my earlier announcement of a lab Bluesky page, I wanted to share our first post, which naturally had to feature long-time friend of the lab Teleoceras.
In the interest of fully divesting from the Tech Bro social media sites, I just started a BlueSky page for my lab! Give us a follow for research updates and news!
bsky.app
March 5, 2025 at 6:50 PM
In the interest of fully divesting from the Tech Bro social media sites, I just started a BlueSky page for my lab! Give us a follow for research updates and news!
A weekend trip across the state to visit family culminated in finding myself in the midst of one of the Northwest's greatest natural spectacles.
February 23, 2025 at 10:37 PM
A weekend trip across the state to visit family culminated in finding myself in the midst of one of the Northwest's greatest natural spectacles.
Ex Africa semper aliquid novi!
Egypt's Fayum is an incredible window into a crucial interval in mammalian evolution. Thanks to a team led by researchers at Mansoura University, the Fayum bestiary is now one species larger.
Absolutely love the Ancient Egyptian-inspired name Bastetodon!
Egypt's Fayum is an incredible window into a crucial interval in mammalian evolution. Thanks to a team led by researchers at Mansoura University, the Fayum bestiary is now one species larger.
Absolutely love the Ancient Egyptian-inspired name Bastetodon!
Our new discovery, led by @shorouqalashqar.bsky.social , has unveiled a new 30-million-year-old species of apex predator, #Bastetodon, in Egypt’s Fayum Desert! Check out the study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. @matt-borths.bsky.social @erikseiffert.bsky.social #SallamLab #MUVP
February 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Ex Africa semper aliquid novi!
Egypt's Fayum is an incredible window into a crucial interval in mammalian evolution. Thanks to a team led by researchers at Mansoura University, the Fayum bestiary is now one species larger.
Absolutely love the Ancient Egyptian-inspired name Bastetodon!
Egypt's Fayum is an incredible window into a crucial interval in mammalian evolution. Thanks to a team led by researchers at Mansoura University, the Fayum bestiary is now one species larger.
Absolutely love the Ancient Egyptian-inspired name Bastetodon!
Reposted by John Orcutt
Just out: My first ever field-based paper in 25+ years in paleo
Carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian lower shale member of the Soltanieh formation, NW Iran.
Led by Najmeh Etemad-Saeed, w/ Shuhai Xiao, me, Kristin Bergmann, Andy Knoll
free URL: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ka1c14fdH...
Carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian lower shale member of the Soltanieh formation, NW Iran.
Led by Najmeh Etemad-Saeed, w/ Shuhai Xiao, me, Kristin Bergmann, Andy Knoll
free URL: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ka1c14fdH...
February 8, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Just out: My first ever field-based paper in 25+ years in paleo
Carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian lower shale member of the Soltanieh formation, NW Iran.
Led by Najmeh Etemad-Saeed, w/ Shuhai Xiao, me, Kristin Bergmann, Andy Knoll
free URL: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ka1c14fdH...
Carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian lower shale member of the Soltanieh formation, NW Iran.
Led by Najmeh Etemad-Saeed, w/ Shuhai Xiao, me, Kristin Bergmann, Andy Knoll
free URL: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ka1c14fdH...
Reposted by John Orcutt
For #FossilFriday may I present to you an amazing scorpion, Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis. It may look like the moult of a modern species, but these are actually ~330 million year old fossils, dissolved out of a rock from 🏴 using acid.
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
January 31, 2025 at 1:45 PM
For #FossilFriday may I present to you an amazing scorpion, Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis. It may look like the moult of a modern species, but these are actually ~330 million year old fossils, dissolved out of a rock from 🏴 using acid.
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
Reposted by John Orcutt
The Turtle Cove assemblage from John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is the theme for this year's #NationalFossilDay poster art! Check out the writeup on the NPS website!
www.nps.gov/articles/000...
www.nps.gov/articles/000...
January 16, 2025 at 3:21 AM
The Turtle Cove assemblage from John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is the theme for this year's #NationalFossilDay poster art! Check out the writeup on the NPS website!
www.nps.gov/articles/000...
www.nps.gov/articles/000...
I'm prepping a lecture on the afrotherian paleontology this #FossilFriday, so how could I not share the spectacular reconstruction of Arsinoitherium from the Fayum of Egypt on display at the Natural History Museum, London?
January 18, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I'm prepping a lecture on the afrotherian paleontology this #FossilFriday, so how could I not share the spectacular reconstruction of Arsinoitherium from the Fayum of Egypt on display at the Natural History Museum, London?
Two related things that make me proud of my home town of Seattle:
1) We're a @unesconow.bsky.social City of Literature
2) We have a strong contender for World's Most Beautiful Bookstore in Arundel Books
1) We're a @unesconow.bsky.social City of Literature
2) We have a strong contender for World's Most Beautiful Bookstore in Arundel Books
January 12, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Two related things that make me proud of my home town of Seattle:
1) We're a @unesconow.bsky.social City of Literature
2) We have a strong contender for World's Most Beautiful Bookstore in Arundel Books
1) We're a @unesconow.bsky.social City of Literature
2) We have a strong contender for World's Most Beautiful Bookstore in Arundel Books
Reposted by John Orcutt
I designed a sticker to raise money for California wildfire relief - I have been wanting to draw something involving garibaldi fish, and seeing as they’re the state marine fish of California I figured now was a fitting time. Preorder period ends in a week - find all details below #marinelife
January 11, 2025 at 11:56 PM
I designed a sticker to raise money for California wildfire relief - I have been wanting to draw something involving garibaldi fish, and seeing as they’re the state marine fish of California I figured now was a fitting time. Preorder period ends in a week - find all details below #marinelife
Last full day on the West Side before heading back to Spokane. Spending it with some surprising sunshine and the Space Age architecture of the Seattle Center (site of the '62 World's Fair).
January 12, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Last full day on the West Side before heading back to Spokane. Spending it with some surprising sunshine and the Space Age architecture of the Seattle Center (site of the '62 World's Fair).
As always, the Olympics made photography easy today.
January 11, 2025 at 3:08 AM
As always, the Olympics made photography easy today.
For so many reasons, things are stressful right now. I've always found the waters of the Olympic Peninsula to be endlessly soothing and refreshing, and I hope these videos bring some of that calm to your feed. First, off, Madison Falls in Olympic National Park.
January 10, 2025 at 2:27 AM
For so many reasons, things are stressful right now. I've always found the waters of the Olympic Peninsula to be endlessly soothing and refreshing, and I hope these videos bring some of that calm to your feed. First, off, Madison Falls in Olympic National Park.
While I'm revisiting the highlights of 2024, I'd be remiss to not mention a very recent development that's my biggest personal news of the year: I got tenure!!! I'm thrilled to be able to spend the rest of my career at Gonzaga and in Spokane!
December 31, 2024 at 8:01 PM
While I'm revisiting the highlights of 2024, I'd be remiss to not mention a very recent development that's my biggest personal news of the year: I got tenure!!! I'm thrilled to be able to spend the rest of my career at Gonzaga and in Spokane!
Happy Holidays from the shore of the Salish Sea! To celebrate the new year, here are some of my favorite memories from 2024!
December 31, 2024 at 7:53 PM
Happy Holidays from the shore of the Salish Sea! To celebrate the new year, here are some of my favorite memories from 2024!
I think we could all use a sea otter in our feeds this #MarineLifeMonday. Famous for the role they play in maintaining kelp forests, they are equally at home in - and equally important members of - the West Coast's other cradles of biodiversity: eelgrass beds, like these in Morro Bay, California.
November 25, 2024 at 7:40 PM
I think we could all use a sea otter in our feeds this #MarineLifeMonday. Famous for the role they play in maintaining kelp forests, they are equally at home in - and equally important members of - the West Coast's other cradles of biodiversity: eelgrass beds, like these in Morro Bay, California.