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 🧪
What the current US regime has done here-- replacing transgender Admiral Rachel Levine's name with her dead name--- encapsulates their cruelty and their attempt to erase transgender individuals and communities. They will not, of course, succeed. #transgenderrightsarehumanrights #gender #transgender
HHS changed the name of transgender health leader on her official portrait
Admiral Rachel Levine was the first transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate to serve in the federal government. Her official portrait at HHS headquarters has been altered.
www.npr.org
December 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM
What the current US regime has done here-- replacing transgender Admiral Rachel Levine's name with her dead name--- encapsulates their cruelty and their attempt to erase transgender individuals and communities. They will not, of course, succeed. #transgenderrightsarehumanrights #gender #transgender
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Deep in the depths of the Shakem wreck, an octopus rests in the coral that's arisen all around on the ship's structures. #MarineLife #Grenada #photography
November 30, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Deep in the depths of the Shakem wreck, an octopus rests in the coral that's arisen all around on the ship's structures. #MarineLife #Grenada #photography
Reposted by Barbara J. King
December 7, 2025 at 1:40 AM
I maintained my focus, which had ascended into determination. -- my #SundaySentence this week comes @drkendracoulter.bsky.social 's novel The Tortoise's Tale. The book's tortoise narrator and storyline are both wonderful. #Booksky #animals
December 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I maintained my focus, which had ascended into determination. -- my #SundaySentence this week comes @drkendracoulter.bsky.social 's novel The Tortoise's Tale. The book's tortoise narrator and storyline are both wonderful. #Booksky #animals
A male rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in winter plumage.
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
December 6, 2025 at 5:24 PM
"A prehistoric bird that lived and died 120 million years ago has presented forensic paleontologists with a baffling medical mystery. [The bird died] with more than 800 tiny pebbles in its throat." Interesting discussion in this piece. #birds #ornithology #paleontology #nature 🧪
This Prehistoric Bird Choked to Death on 800 Rocks, And No One Knows Why
A prehistoric bird that lived and died 120 million years ago has presented forensic paleontologists with a baffling medical mystery.
www.sciencealert.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:54 PM
"A prehistoric bird that lived and died 120 million years ago has presented forensic paleontologists with a baffling medical mystery. [The bird died] with more than 800 tiny pebbles in its throat." Interesting discussion in this piece. #birds #ornithology #paleontology #nature 🧪
Reposted by Barbara J. King
Star Trek does a normal Star Trek show - "Ugh it's just Star Trek, no one wants that anymore but existing fans" Star Trek does literally anything else to engage with new viewers "Ugh can't they just make a normal Trek show?" Welcome back to the Nothing Is Actually Good Enough pipeline.
December 4, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Star Trek does a normal Star Trek show - "Ugh it's just Star Trek, no one wants that anymore but existing fans" Star Trek does literally anything else to engage with new viewers "Ugh can't they just make a normal Trek show?" Welcome back to the Nothing Is Actually Good Enough pipeline.
December 4, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Photo contest finalists from @royalsociety.org in areas of Astronomy, Behaviour, Earth Science and Climatology, Ecology and Environmental Science, are just stunning! Wonderful images and detailed descriptions including of #animals. #naturephotography #environment #astronomy #climate 🧪
Finalists 2025 | Royal Society
2025 finalists for the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition.
royalsociety.org
December 4, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Photo contest finalists from @royalsociety.org in areas of Astronomy, Behaviour, Earth Science and Climatology, Ecology and Environmental Science, are just stunning! Wonderful images and detailed descriptions including of #animals. #naturephotography #environment #astronomy #climate 🧪
Hi @ou.edu, proud PhD alumna here (Anthropology '89), but not proud at all of your decision to put this graduate-student instructor on leave for upholding standards of scholarship. Please reconsider. #highered #UniversityofOklahoma #gender #anthropology 🧪
College Instructor Put on Leave Over Zero Grade for Gender Essay
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Hi @ou.edu, proud PhD alumna here (Anthropology '89), but not proud at all of your decision to put this graduate-student instructor on leave for upholding standards of scholarship. Please reconsider. #highered #UniversityofOklahoma #gender #anthropology 🧪
Making this painting of the tuxedo cat, done by a friend, the center of this Christmas display. As it should be! #cats #tuxedocat #Christmas #holiday
December 2, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Making this painting of the tuxedo cat, done by a friend, the center of this Christmas display. As it should be! #cats #tuxedocat #Christmas #holiday
Immersed in The Tortoise's Tale, a novel by animal ethics scholar @drkendracoulter.bsky.social - the tortoise narrator is wonderful. She delights in being seen as someone, not something. #tortoise #turtle #animals #Booksky
December 2, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Immersed in The Tortoise's Tale, a novel by animal ethics scholar @drkendracoulter.bsky.social - the tortoise narrator is wonderful. She delights in being seen as someone, not something. #tortoise #turtle #animals #Booksky
Reposted by Barbara J. King
(3,3) My question for everyone who is looking into the National Guard shooting is simple. How did the killer get his guns and what is your plan to stop future killers (American citizens or not) from acquiring weapons in a country that currently makes that easy?
December 1, 2025 at 1:27 PM
(3,3) My question for everyone who is looking into the National Guard shooting is simple. How did the killer get his guns and what is your plan to stop future killers (American citizens or not) from acquiring weapons in a country that currently makes that easy?
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 🧪
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
December 1, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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
"Suddenly suffused with this love, Krysia felt like a brand-new kettle, filled for the very first time with crystal clear water."
-- HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT
By Olga Tokarczuk (publishes Tuesday)
#SundaySentence
-- HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT
By Olga Tokarczuk (publishes Tuesday)
#SundaySentence
November 30, 2025 at 8:29 PM
"Suddenly suffused with this love, Krysia felt like a brand-new kettle, filled for the very first time with crystal clear water."
-- HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT
By Olga Tokarczuk (publishes Tuesday)
#SundaySentence
-- HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT
By Olga Tokarczuk (publishes Tuesday)
#SundaySentence
In America, where the populace had proven time and again to be particularly susceptible to paranoia, suspicions took root deeply and quickly. -- Nikki Erlick, The Measure. A quick, enjoyable, thoughtful novel. #SundaySentence #Booksky
November 30, 2025 at 2:49 PM
In America, where the populace had proven time and again to be particularly susceptible to paranoia, suspicions took root deeply and quickly. -- Nikki Erlick, The Measure. A quick, enjoyable, thoughtful novel. #SundaySentence #Booksky
Major relief this #Caturday morning. Just back from vet and our tuxedo Marie does not have pneumonia. Xray shows clear lungs! But Convenia antibiotic on board via injection plus subQ fluids for this wheezing. This progressed rapidly from a typical cold. #veterinary
November 29, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Major relief this #Caturday morning. Just back from vet and our tuxedo Marie does not have pneumonia. Xray shows clear lungs! But Convenia antibiotic on board via injection plus subQ fluids for this wheezing. This progressed rapidly from a typical cold. #veterinary
You may be shopping today or avoiding shopping today- whatever you're doing may I recommend looking and listening for the birds all around you? A never-fails joy in any season. #BlackFriday #birds #birding #nature
November 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
You may be shopping today or avoiding shopping today- whatever you're doing may I recommend looking and listening for the birds all around you? A never-fails joy in any season. #BlackFriday #birds #birding #nature
Wouldn't it be awesome if International Space Station astronauts ate plant foods from NASA for Thanksgiving instead of turkey and lobster and salmon, in aid of our Earth, and the lives of animals? What do you think, @roguenasa.altgov.info? #Thanksgiving #NASA #ISS #space #plantbased #vegan
NASA astronauts celebrate Thanksgiving with Russian cranberry sauce
NASA has made sure that the International Space Station is well stocked for a Thanksgiving meal full of treats. Here's what's on the menu.
www.npr.org
November 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Wouldn't it be awesome if International Space Station astronauts ate plant foods from NASA for Thanksgiving instead of turkey and lobster and salmon, in aid of our Earth, and the lives of animals? What do you think, @roguenasa.altgov.info? #Thanksgiving #NASA #ISS #space #plantbased #vegan
Diving into this Penguin @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social book on penguins! All 18 species fascinate me for their adaptations to cold and ice, and sometimes, heat. #Booksky #penguin #birds #birding
November 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Diving into this Penguin @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social book on penguins! All 18 species fascinate me for their adaptations to cold and ice, and sometimes, heat. #Booksky #penguin #birds #birding
I like this post. #writing #freelance
I don't have children or student loans, and I bought a house with money left to me when my mother died, and I never leave those three things out of the "how did you transition into freelancing full time" conversation because otherwise it is WILDLY disingenuous to talk about how writing pays my bills
And the folks who are actually writing full-time generally only got there after years of day jobs, family support, or both.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
The point of sharing this is not to demoralize anyone, but to let emerging writers know they're not failing if they can't make a living off writing alone. Almost no one can.
November 26, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I like this post. #writing #freelance
Paleogenomics: "Nearly two-thirds of modern dog breeds, including even Chihuahuas, contain traces of recent wolf DNA." #dogs #wolves #paleogenomics #evolution
Is There a Little Wolf in Your Chihuahua?
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Paleogenomics: "Nearly two-thirds of modern dog breeds, including even Chihuahuas, contain traces of recent wolf DNA." #dogs #wolves #paleogenomics #evolution
November 24, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Hurray, @npr.org's "Books We Love" end-of-year book coverage is up! An annual joy. Here's the link to the whole thing: apps.npr.org/best-books/#... #Booksky #books #amreading #writerscommuniity
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
apps.npr.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Hurray, @npr.org's "Books We Love" end-of-year book coverage is up! An annual joy. Here's the link to the whole thing: apps.npr.org/best-books/#... #Booksky #books #amreading #writerscommuniity