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thomascullen.bsky.social
Thomas Cullen
@thomascullen.bsky.social
1.3K followers 570 following 15 posts
Asst. Prof. of Paleobiology and Curator at Auburn University | Adjunct Prof at Carleton University | RCGS Fellow | PhD from UToronto. Views my own. thomasmcullen.net
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thomascullen.bsky.social
Thomas Cullen @thomascullen.bsky.social · Oct 25
Hello! I'm Tom, I'm a palaeontologist & ecologist, working as a prof at Auburn U. I research community dynamics, life history, & biodiversity of organisms in ancient greenhouse environments using a variety of methods. I've also done a fair bit of museum work & exhibit development, & love fieldwork.
image plate showing examples of my community ecology, isotopic, and histological analyses, alongside images of myself in the field and some of my fieldwork localities, and then a couple of images of museum exhibits that I've advised on / assisted in designing.
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Guess the Gem!! What mineral do you think these two gems are? Hint: the blue one is irradiated and heated to get that colour.
#GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎
Two gems on a beige background. The top is a large round light brown Portuguese-style cut gem. The bottom is a small bright blue oval cute gem. The edges of white labels can be seen at the top and bottom. At the Natural History Museum in London.
November 18, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
dominiqueberteaux.bsky.social
Some had difficulties with the link of my previous post. Here is the full link: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🧪🌿🌎🦊 #wildlife #MovementEcology #uqar
Integrating predator energetic balance, risk‐taking behaviour and microhabitat in functional response to untangle indirect interactions in a multispecies vertebrate community
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Have you ever heard of this mineral? Pachnolite was discovered in Greenland and the name translates to frost stone, which is a very cool name. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
Specimen of pachnolite showing bright brown yellow sharp crystals in a cavity in white crystals. It sits on a frosted plinth on a glass shelf on a grey wall. The edge of a green and brown specimen on a plinth can be seen to the top left. The plinth has a label that says « Pachnolite/Pachnolite » on it.At the Royal Ontario Museum.
November 17, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
animalecology.bsky.social
🐺 Advantageous snow conditions – in terms of snow depth and density – are among the most important features of the winter landscape for two apex predators, regardless of hunting strategy.

Read the full paper here ➡️ buff.ly/pXSMNRK
November 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
trstngnthr.bsky.social
Become our colleague! - 2yr Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past (UU) @humanpastcenter.bsky.social 🧪

Great place to work at (ok, I am biased), integration with archaeologists and linguists + pretty flexible research topic

www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past - Uppsala University
Postdoctoral position in Palaeo-population genomics at the Center for the Human Past, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
www.uu.se
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
The metamorphic mineral staurolite with its distinctive penetration twinning forming a cross. It’s positively delightful!! #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
Brown crystals forming a cross in white matrix. It sits on a black background. At the Sorbonne.
November 10, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
brittanytrang.com
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
As cool and cute as sabre-toothed tigers are, at least I don’t have to fear staring down the maw of Smilodon populator these days. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪
Looking down the jaw of mounted skeleton of a fossil sabre-toothed tiger with its mouth open. It stands on a wooden plinth on a wood floor among glass display cases. At the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle.
November 7, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Ah yes!! Another bacon specimen!! This time it’s banded aragonite. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
Specimen that is a polished slab of white and pale and dark brownish pink stripes , resembling bacon. It sits on a grey background with the edges of another specimens and labels seen around it. Label to the bottom right says « D28 - BM.58818 Stalagmitic banded, polished Loket, Karlovarský kraj. Czech Republic » At the Natural History Museum London.
November 3, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
solomonrdavid.bsky.social
BEHOLD the GARgantuan Alligator Gar!!!

This is the largest Alligator Gar I’ve encountered; at over 7 feet 10 inches (240 cm) and approximately 55 inches in girth, its weight is estimated at 300 pounds (136 kg)!

A true river monster, among the largest caught, tagged and safely released! #GarWeek
A giant Alligator Gar (fish) lies in a boat, captured for research and safely released after measurements and tagging.
October 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM
thomascullen.bsky.social
Big congrats to Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli on their Nature paper today demonstrating the presence of small bodied tyrannosaurs in the Hell Creek (distinct from T. rex). Very cool stuff, and some nice histo + growth data supporting the result!
October 31, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Another Tuesday Guess the Gem!! What mineral do you think these gems are? Hint: their streak would be red.
#GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎
In the center are two gems, each on white foam in a white gem case. The one on the left is a round cut and the right is a long cabochon with two pointed ends in the east west direction. They are surrounded by lined up gem cases you can see the edge of. At the Hunterian.
October 28, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Another bright mineral!! The element sulphur makes these beautiful crystals. Be careful, sometimes the warmth of your hand can cause these sensitive crystals to crack. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
Tall specimen consisting of many bright yellow sulphur crystals on grey matrix. It sits on a frosted plinth in front of a grey wall. An edge of another striped mineral, orpiment, can be seen at the top left. At the Royal Ontario Museum.
October 27, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
taphonomist.bsky.social
Bacteria 🦠 🧫 play a crucial role in how animals become fossils!
Read about how decay experiments demonstrate that bacteria from the gut dominate the thanatomicrobiome (the internal microbiome of decay) and probably control fossilisation in our new paper!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The relationship between microbial community succession, decay, and anatomical character loss in non‐biomineralized animals
A fundamental assumption of hypothesis-driven decay experiments is that, during decay, the loss of anatomy follows a sequence broadly controlled by the intrinsic compositional properties of tissues. ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 15, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
arctomet.bsky.social
first pachycephalosaurid from the Late Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation: effects of the Western Interior Seaway on North American pachycephalosaurid evolution url: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

#ThunderDome
The first pachycephalosaurid from the Late Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation: effects of the Western Interior Seaway on North American pachycephalosaurid evolution
Abstract. During the latest Cretaceous, western North America experienced several regressive and transgressive cycles of the Western Interior Seaway (WIS).
academic.oup.com
October 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
It’s Geodiversity Day & Mineral Monday!! So I wanted to show you a rare mineral called carletonite, which is usually bright blue but seen here with a pink zonation. It was discovered here in Canada, at the mineral species rich Mont Saint-Hilaire. #GeodiversityDay #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
Specimen of carletonite with prisms of blue and pink all around. There is one large square crystal with a small blue square in the middle with pink on the outside on the upper right side of the specimen. It sits on a black background. At the Canadian Museum of Nature.
October 6, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
watershedlab.bsky.social
🚨FOUR tenure track positions in my dept @ucalgary.bsky.social @ucalgaryscience.bsky.social in applied & computational geophysics, subsurface geochemistry, sedimentary geology, and sustainable soil science. careers.ucalgary.ca/search/jobs?...

(please reskeet widely!) #academicsky 🧪⚒️🇨🇦
Opportunities matching 'earth'
Search 4 Careers available at University of Calgary.
careers.ucalgary.ca
October 3, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
macroecoevoale.bsky.social
A brilliant palaeontologist, Dr Tsogtbaatar, is facing a tough battle and needs help with medical expenses. Please consider donating or sharing the link: every bit truly helps. Thank you!
Donate to Help Dr. Tsogtbaatar, Icon of Mongolian Paleontology, organized by Lindsay Zanno
Renowned Mongolian paleontologist Dr. Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar is fig… Lindsay Zanno needs your support for Help Dr. Tsogtbaatar, Icon of Mongolian Paleontology
www.gofundme.com
October 4, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
arctomet.bsky.social
Happy 120th Nameday, Tyrannosaurus rex and Albertosaurus sarcophagus!
Reconstructed skull of the holotype specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex The 1905 and 1906 reconstructions of the skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex T. rex by Julius Csotonyi Skull of Albertosaurus sarcophagus at the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology
October 4, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social
Joseph Montferrand is a legendary French-Canadian folk hero.
A logger who stood up for Francophones, his legend has grown with tales of his strength.
Also known as Big Joe Mufferaw, he inspired the Ottawa Redblacks' mascot Big Joe.
This is his story.

🧵 1/12
A muscular figure with blonde hair raises a clenched fist, wearing a red tunic against a blue background.
October 4, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
daveyfwright.bsky.social
🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪

Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
A job ad with multiple images, including the exterior of the museum, a view of collections (jars on shelves), and pictures of some cool, tropical fish but I don't know enough about fish to describe them other than to say they're pretty colors of yellow and blue/green
October 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
At long last, Beth Zaiken’s spectacular He’ll Creek mural is permanently installed in the Sue gallery!
Corner display with a verdant mural of dinosaurs and other creatures in a swamp, over four cases with small fossils. View of right side of mural, with resting T. rex in the center. View of left side of the mural, with Pachycephalosaurus among some cypress Big T. rex skeleton on platform, mural visible in the far distance
September 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Take a pause from the stress in choosing your votes for Mineral Cup and refresh your palate with this fluorescent bright orange coral-like halite. Minerals are just so cool. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky #MinCup25 ⚒️🧪
Specimen made up of many small cubes making branches off a base. The specimen is fluorescing orange with a black background. At the Royal Ontario Museum.
September 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
andersonmineral.bsky.social
Real skull of Sue the T. rex!! Did you know the one on the full display is a cast that removed the distortion due to crushing that we see here. #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪🦖
Large T. rex skull seen from the front in a glass case. The right side is much flatter than the left. At the Field Museum.
September 19, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Thomas Cullen
smilodontology.bsky.social
FAMM will be particularly useful for researchers seeking to use inter-disciplinary techniques to understand how #Arctic #marine #mammals will respond to the current #ClimateCrisis

Open-Access Link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🧵 🦴/🦴
Introducing FAMM: An Open‐Access Database of Fossil Arctic Marine Mammals
Motivation The Arctic is currently experiencing the strongest effects of climate change on Earth. These effects, including sea ice loss, are already modifying the ecologies of the 11 species of mari...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 19, 2025 at 4:10 AM