Melissa, Queen of the Sloths 🦥
@slothgirlmel.bsky.social
Since you asked, no. Giant ground sloths did NOT eat avocados and shit out the seeds, resulting in the evolution of modern avocados. *paper coming soon-ish… someday… when I have time for that.
Hey people! I have one unclaimed guest list ticket if anyone is free for Nerd Nite in Burbank tonight! Who wants it?
November 11, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Hey people! I have one unclaimed guest list ticket if anyone is free for Nerd Nite in Burbank tonight! Who wants it?
Happy National Fossil Day to me! And the ~30 other sloth researchers. This baby Megalonyx from Prehistoric Planet is too damn cute and I am watching this on repeat for the next 42 days until the new season comes out! m.youtube.com/watch?v=9i0R...
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age — Season 3 First Look | Apple TV+
YouTube video by Apple TV
m.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:35 AM
Happy National Fossil Day to me! And the ~30 other sloth researchers. This baby Megalonyx from Prehistoric Planet is too damn cute and I am watching this on repeat for the next 42 days until the new season comes out! m.youtube.com/watch?v=9i0R...
On this research trip, I have:
-left my laptop charger at home
-bought a replacement charger that isn’t powerful enough for my laptop
-realized that the years of data that’s supposed to be on this hard drive is possibly lost forever
But I did help dissect a baby camel, so there’s that.
-left my laptop charger at home
-bought a replacement charger that isn’t powerful enough for my laptop
-realized that the years of data that’s supposed to be on this hard drive is possibly lost forever
But I did help dissect a baby camel, so there’s that.
August 15, 2025 at 7:51 PM
On this research trip, I have:
-left my laptop charger at home
-bought a replacement charger that isn’t powerful enough for my laptop
-realized that the years of data that’s supposed to be on this hard drive is possibly lost forever
But I did help dissect a baby camel, so there’s that.
-left my laptop charger at home
-bought a replacement charger that isn’t powerful enough for my laptop
-realized that the years of data that’s supposed to be on this hard drive is possibly lost forever
But I did help dissect a baby camel, so there’s that.
I know everything is shit right now, but I still need to share good news when it happens. 3 years after my first attempt and after ungodly amounts of studying, I have finally passed the GISP exam and I get to add some letters after my name!
July 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I know everything is shit right now, but I still need to share good news when it happens. 3 years after my first attempt and after ungodly amounts of studying, I have finally passed the GISP exam and I get to add some letters after my name!
In case anyone else desperately needs some eye bleach after doomscrolling all day, I just accidentally took the most epic glamour shot of the boys and it 100% needs to be their wedding announcement photo.
June 10, 2025 at 2:55 AM
In case anyone else desperately needs some eye bleach after doomscrolling all day, I just accidentally took the most epic glamour shot of the boys and it 100% needs to be their wedding announcement photo.
Because we all need good news when we can get it these days: my stepson just got accepted into a PhD program! Since he got his master’s a few years ago, he’s been a professor and addiction counselor, and still finds time to volunteer with the local high school band. I’m so fucking proud of him!
June 3, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Because we all need good news when we can get it these days: my stepson just got accepted into a PhD program! Since he got his master’s a few years ago, he’s been a professor and addiction counselor, and still finds time to volunteer with the local high school band. I’m so fucking proud of him!
Hi, it’s me. The world’s worst mother (according to this little jerk who is very upset that he has to be in the torture chamber for an hour as we move to our new home).
June 1, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Hi, it’s me. The world’s worst mother (according to this little jerk who is very upset that he has to be in the torture chamber for an hour as we move to our new home).
The museum in the Indiana Jones game is pretty rad! They even have a giant ground sloth perched on top of a cabinet of fossil skulls from around the world. Not super happy with the security though. Someone smashed up cabinets and left broken fossils on the floor.
May 29, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The museum in the Indiana Jones game is pretty rad! They even have a giant ground sloth perched on top of a cabinet of fossil skulls from around the world. Not super happy with the security though. Someone smashed up cabinets and left broken fossils on the floor.
Is it my imagination or is there a baby mammoth frolicking in the river in the mural outside of my new apartment?
May 28, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Is it my imagination or is there a baby mammoth frolicking in the river in the mural outside of my new apartment?
My very first journal article is finally here! And I’m so happy I got to be part of it with a mentor and my grad school advisor, especially since I consider them my friends. 🧪
H. Gregory McDonald, Laura E. Wilson & Melissa Macias 2025 A New Record of the Extinct Ground Sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii from Kansas and Review of the History of the Genus in the State," Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 128: 1-12 doi.org/10.1660/062....
A New Record of the Extinct Ground Sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii from Kansas and Review of the History of the Genus in the State
The recovery of a partial skull comprised mostly of the braincase of the extinct sloth, Megalonyx jeffersonii from Hays, Ellis County, Kansas provides a better understanding of the distribution of thi...
doi.org
May 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
My very first journal article is finally here! And I’m so happy I got to be part of it with a mentor and my grad school advisor, especially since I consider them my friends. 🧪
Can I take a short break from being a human and just be a musk ox with a giant beach ball? Just for a few minutes?
Willow and Pretzel, our young muskoxen, received their first extra-large jolly ball for enrichment! They didn’t pop it, but they gave it a good roll and a few curious headbutts, all in the name of fun (and natural behavior, of course). Pretzel just turned two on Monday. Happy birthday, Pretzel!
May 7, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Can I take a short break from being a human and just be a musk ox with a giant beach ball? Just for a few minutes?
The sautéed green beans from Fresh Kabobs. I would eat them like fries, dipped in garlic sauce. And their strawberry goat cheese salad with mint dressing. The lamb kabobs were good, but the sides were unforgettable. I miss that restaurant so much!
I don't want to hear about your lost loves, tell me about the restaurant food that haunts you because you'll never be able to taste it again
April 24, 2025 at 2:10 AM
The sautéed green beans from Fresh Kabobs. I would eat them like fries, dipped in garlic sauce. And their strawberry goat cheese salad with mint dressing. The lamb kabobs were good, but the sides were unforgettable. I miss that restaurant so much!
A bar in my neighborhood has been promoting a right-wing comedy event. The local subreddit found out and planned protests, posted bad yelp reviews, boycotted, etc.
It worked!! I just drove past. The bar is closed and the parking lot is empty. On a Saturday night. Fuck yes!
It worked!! I just drove past. The bar is closed and the parking lot is empty. On a Saturday night. Fuck yes!
April 20, 2025 at 3:46 AM
A bar in my neighborhood has been promoting a right-wing comedy event. The local subreddit found out and planned protests, posted bad yelp reviews, boycotted, etc.
It worked!! I just drove past. The bar is closed and the parking lot is empty. On a Saturday night. Fuck yes!
It worked!! I just drove past. The bar is closed and the parking lot is empty. On a Saturday night. Fuck yes!
Diving into the evolutionary of the avocado while waiting in the Subaru dealership, as one does, and internally screaming at the number of papers that cite a musing with no actual scientific evidence and treat it like a proven fact. 😵💫🫠
April 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Diving into the evolutionary of the avocado while waiting in the Subaru dealership, as one does, and internally screaming at the number of papers that cite a musing with no actual scientific evidence and treat it like a proven fact. 😵💫🫠
Sorry, but the only de-extinction I want to see is when the Pleistocene megafauna on my coffee mug get fleshy because I forgot to drink my coffee while it was still hot.
April 11, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Sorry, but the only de-extinction I want to see is when the Pleistocene megafauna on my coffee mug get fleshy because I forgot to drink my coffee while it was still hot.
Fun (?) fact I’ve learned about myself today: I can find any location in the LA area on a digital topo map in about a minute, but I still can’t drive here without navigation 🤷🏻♀️
April 11, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Fun (?) fact I’ve learned about myself today: I can find any location in the LA area on a digital topo map in about a minute, but I still can’t drive here without navigation 🤷🏻♀️
I expected the worst before traveling to Tennessee. What I found instead was a thriving queer and trans community, excellent drag, wonderful people, and restaurants that take celiac disease seriously. And the AMMP conference was amazing too.
April 7, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I expected the worst before traveling to Tennessee. What I found instead was a thriving queer and trans community, excellent drag, wonderful people, and restaurants that take celiac disease seriously. And the AMMP conference was amazing too.
In case nobody told you today
March 31, 2025 at 7:30 PM
In case nobody told you today
Anything by Smashing Pumpkins. It’s his voice. It’s like nails on a chalkboard and whiny and nasally and uggghhhh…
Although I can handle covers of their songs. 🤷🏻♀️
Although I can handle covers of their songs. 🤷🏻♀️
Fuck your favourite song. Tell me your least favourite song. The one that makes you die inside the moment you hear the first 3 seconds.
March 30, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Anything by Smashing Pumpkins. It’s his voice. It’s like nails on a chalkboard and whiny and nasally and uggghhhh…
Although I can handle covers of their songs. 🤷🏻♀️
Although I can handle covers of their songs. 🤷🏻♀️
We are way beyond the statutes of limitation, so I am happy to announce that today is the 15 year anniversary of the heist where I, along with unnamed co-conspirators, stole this rock. But is it really theft if it was mine to begin with?
We liberated this rock. It’s a good rock.
We liberated this rock. It’s a good rock.
March 28, 2025 at 10:59 PM
We are way beyond the statutes of limitation, so I am happy to announce that today is the 15 year anniversary of the heist where I, along with unnamed co-conspirators, stole this rock. But is it really theft if it was mine to begin with?
We liberated this rock. It’s a good rock.
We liberated this rock. It’s a good rock.
It’s Science Fair Day!!!
Judging the science fair today has restored a bit of my faith in the future. If we can try hold this all together until these kids have a chance to grow up and implement their ideas in the real world, we might just be ok. These kids are awesome!
Judging the science fair today has restored a bit of my faith in the future. If we can try hold this all together until these kids have a chance to grow up and implement their ideas in the real world, we might just be ok. These kids are awesome!
March 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM
It’s Science Fair Day!!!
Judging the science fair today has restored a bit of my faith in the future. If we can try hold this all together until these kids have a chance to grow up and implement their ideas in the real world, we might just be ok. These kids are awesome!
Judging the science fair today has restored a bit of my faith in the future. If we can try hold this all together until these kids have a chance to grow up and implement their ideas in the real world, we might just be ok. These kids are awesome!
Yes! I even paint my nails before fieldwork. It’s my weekly self-care stress relief.
March 10, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Yes! I even paint my nails before fieldwork. It’s my weekly self-care stress relief.
Happy Megalonyx Day to all who celebrate!
On this day in 1797, American President Thomas Jefferson presented a paper on Megalonyx to the Amer. Phil. Society; published as "A Memoir on the Discovery of Certain Bones of a Quadruped of the Clawed Kind in the Western Parts of Virginia," Trans of Amer. Phil. Soc. 4:255-256.
March 10, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Happy Megalonyx Day to all who celebrate!
That was a nice little rumble. I thought it was exciting. Loki briefly woke up. Shrimp is NOT a fan of earthquakes.
March 9, 2025 at 8:11 PM
That was a nice little rumble. I thought it was exciting. Loki briefly woke up. Shrimp is NOT a fan of earthquakes.
Date night (aka an all trans table reading of A Streetcar Named Desire) was exactly what I needed to escape from all of the hatred and insanity of this year. Just a room of gorgeous, diverse, friendly people enjoying talented actors do their thing.
March 7, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Date night (aka an all trans table reading of A Streetcar Named Desire) was exactly what I needed to escape from all of the hatred and insanity of this year. Just a room of gorgeous, diverse, friendly people enjoying talented actors do their thing.