Eric Ekdale
@eekdale.bsky.social
I teach Biology at San Diego State University. And I study the ears of dead things. And whales. And mammals in general. And other things paleontological, comparative anatomical, and evolutionarily biological that strike my fancy. Opinions are my own.
Pinned
Eric Ekdale
@eekdale.bsky.social
· Dec 4
Variation in whale (Cetacea) inner ear anatomy reveals the early evolution of “specialized” high‐frequency hearing sensitivity
Our findings support sensitivity to low-frequency sound in the archaeocete Zygorhiza kochii and an early toothed mysticete cf. Aetiocetus. Narrow-band high-frequency hearing was present in Oligocene ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
I have a new paper out on the evolution of hearing in toothed whales! It looks like a narrow range of high-frequency auditory sensitivity in some living dolphins and porpoises may be an ancestral physiology rather than novel specializations in select groups.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
An extremely cool map
A book from the 19th century that depicts the Rhine Valley by creating an impression of three-dimensionality and spatial distance.
@MasayukiTsuda2 #globalmuseum #books #travel #19thcentury
@MasayukiTsuda2 #globalmuseum #books #travel #19thcentury
December 3, 2025 at 7:25 PM
An extremely cool map
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
#whalewednesday A couple of earbones of the extinct dwarf baleen whale Herpetocetus from the Purisima Formation (~5 myo) of California. I collected the periotic on the left in 2010 and the one on the right (with associated skull) in 2007. Both donated to @ucmpberkeley.bsky.social. 🦖🐋
December 3, 2025 at 4:47 PM
#whalewednesday A couple of earbones of the extinct dwarf baleen whale Herpetocetus from the Purisima Formation (~5 myo) of California. I collected the periotic on the left in 2010 and the one on the right (with associated skull) in 2007. Both donated to @ucmpberkeley.bsky.social. 🦖🐋
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
The final, formatted version of the Zanno & @jgn-paleo.bsky.social Nanotyrannus paper is out:
Zanno, L.E., Napoli, J.G. Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Zanno, L.E., Napoli, J.G. Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous - Nature
A well-preserved skeleton of a nearly mature tyrannosaur from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, USA supports the existence of a second Nanotyrannus species, Nanotyrannus lethaeus sp. nov., and vali...
doi.org
December 3, 2025 at 1:33 PM
The final, formatted version of the Zanno & @jgn-paleo.bsky.social Nanotyrannus paper is out:
Zanno, L.E., Napoli, J.G. Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Zanno, L.E., Napoli, J.G. Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Most students give their teachers apples. Yesterday, one of mine gave me the (mostly) decomposed vertebral column and partial skull of a baby deer. Not that I'm complaining...
December 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Most students give their teachers apples. Yesterday, one of mine gave me the (mostly) decomposed vertebral column and partial skull of a baby deer. Not that I'm complaining...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Coming back from vacation to some good news!
The first baby whale of the 2025-2026 North American right whale calving season was spotted Nov 28 near South Carolina.
Mom is Champagne (ID #3904) and its her 2nd documented calf. What joyful news for a species with 384 whales remaining.
The first baby whale of the 2025-2026 North American right whale calving season was spotted Nov 28 near South Carolina.
Mom is Champagne (ID #3904) and its her 2nd documented calf. What joyful news for a species with 384 whales remaining.
December 1, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Coming back from vacation to some good news!
The first baby whale of the 2025-2026 North American right whale calving season was spotted Nov 28 near South Carolina.
Mom is Champagne (ID #3904) and its her 2nd documented calf. What joyful news for a species with 384 whales remaining.
The first baby whale of the 2025-2026 North American right whale calving season was spotted Nov 28 near South Carolina.
Mom is Champagne (ID #3904) and its her 2nd documented calf. What joyful news for a species with 384 whales remaining.
I remember seeing (and loving) this movie in the theaters back in 1988 when my family spent a year living in New Zealand. When I returned to the U.S., I raved about it to my friends who didn't believe it was an actual movie. Can't wait to track this down for a nostalgic rewatch!
Asa West spent years trying to find a strange fantasy film she'd glimpsed as a child–finally tracking it down was a revelation, not just about the film itself, but about how weird, ambitious art falls in and out of fashion
I Tracked Down the Film that Traumatized Me as a Kid, and Found a Forgotten Gem - Reactor
Weird, ambitious art — the kind that sticks with you for decades — is always worth searching for.
reactormag.com
December 1, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I remember seeing (and loving) this movie in the theaters back in 1988 when my family spent a year living in New Zealand. When I returned to the U.S., I raved about it to my friends who didn't believe it was an actual movie. Can't wait to track this down for a nostalgic rewatch!
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
#mammalmonday Skeleton of the recently extinct (mid 18th century) Steller's sea cow, Hydrodamalis gigas, on display at the @nhm-london.bsky.social. This ~20-25' (6-7m) long sirenian lacked teeth and fed mostly on fleshy kelps, and was restricted to the Komandorskiye Islands. 🐋🦖🧪
December 1, 2025 at 5:03 PM
#mammalmonday Skeleton of the recently extinct (mid 18th century) Steller's sea cow, Hydrodamalis gigas, on display at the @nhm-london.bsky.social. This ~20-25' (6-7m) long sirenian lacked teeth and fed mostly on fleshy kelps, and was restricted to the Komandorskiye Islands. 🐋🦖🧪
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
This is how I move, after Thanksgiving
November 30, 2025 at 2:32 PM
This is how I move, after Thanksgiving
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
12 million year old bone-crushing dog tracks!
New article on research we presented at the recent Vert Paleo conference in the UK.
Lots of on-going work at Ashfall Fossil Beds @unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving for those in the states. 🦃
www.livescience.com/animals/exti...
New article on research we presented at the recent Vert Paleo conference in the UK.
Lots of on-going work at Ashfall Fossil Beds @unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving for those in the states. 🦃
www.livescience.com/animals/exti...
Large, bone-crushing dogs stalked 'Rhino Pompeii' after Yellowstone eruption 12 million years ago, ancient footprints reveal
Researchers have found footprints of large, bone-crushing dogs in the 12 million-year-old Ashfall Fossil Beds in northeastern Nebraska, suggesting these large carnivores may have survived a cataclysmi...
www.livescience.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:01 PM
12 million year old bone-crushing dog tracks!
New article on research we presented at the recent Vert Paleo conference in the UK.
Lots of on-going work at Ashfall Fossil Beds @unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving for those in the states. 🦃
www.livescience.com/animals/exti...
New article on research we presented at the recent Vert Paleo conference in the UK.
Lots of on-going work at Ashfall Fossil Beds @unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving for those in the states. 🦃
www.livescience.com/animals/exti...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Happy Theropod Appreciation Day 🦃, aka Thanksgiving! We're thankful for ALL of YOU - our listeners, who make this podcast so much fun to make. THANK YOU!!!
Listen to the newest episode with paleontologist and cat-lover 🐈⬛️🐾, Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues!
🔊 Listen now:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/hans...
Listen to the newest episode with paleontologist and cat-lover 🐈⬛️🐾, Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues!
🔊 Listen now:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/hans...
November 27, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Happy Theropod Appreciation Day 🦃, aka Thanksgiving! We're thankful for ALL of YOU - our listeners, who make this podcast so much fun to make. THANK YOU!!!
Listen to the newest episode with paleontologist and cat-lover 🐈⬛️🐾, Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues!
🔊 Listen now:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/hans...
Listen to the newest episode with paleontologist and cat-lover 🐈⬛️🐾, Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues!
🔊 Listen now:
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/hans...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
#worldwalrusday Walruses today live in the Arctic, but walrus fossils keep being discovered in ancient marine rocks from California! Read all about the 'toothless' walrus Valenictus sheperdi which we named from Santa Cruz last year: 🧪🦖🐬 coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2024/02/vale...
Valenictus sheperdi and friends: Miocene-Pliocene tusked walruses from the Purisima Formation in Santa Cruz, California
I had very much intended to be writing a part 2 of my Xenorophus blog series right now but the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology jumped the...
coastalpaleo.blogspot.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
#worldwalrusday Walruses today live in the Arctic, but walrus fossils keep being discovered in ancient marine rocks from California! Read all about the 'toothless' walrus Valenictus sheperdi which we named from Santa Cruz last year: 🧪🦖🐬 coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2024/02/vale...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Gelfo, J.N., Goin, F.J. & Vega, N.A. First unambiguous evidence of Multituberculata from the Late Cretaceous of South America. Sci Rep 15, 41500 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
First unambiguous evidence of Multituberculata from the Late Cretaceous of South America - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - First unambiguous evidence of Multituberculata from the Late Cretaceous of South America
doi.org
November 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Gelfo, J.N., Goin, F.J. & Vega, N.A. First unambiguous evidence of Multituberculata from the Late Cretaceous of South America. Sci Rep 15, 41500 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
New paper alert!! Thanks to @tuttran.bsky.social for putting us all together for his first publication! It will be helpful to have much of this data in one place. Check it out: giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.ph...
#NPSpaleo
#NPSpaleo
November 24, 2025 at 6:24 PM
New paper alert!! Thanks to @tuttran.bsky.social for putting us all together for his first publication! It will be helpful to have much of this data in one place. Check it out: giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.ph...
#NPSpaleo
#NPSpaleo
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
I heard its #worldwalrusday , so have some art of these vastly underappreciated wonders.
#sciart #marinemammals
#sciart #marinemammals
November 24, 2025 at 1:45 PM
I heard its #worldwalrusday , so have some art of these vastly underappreciated wonders.
#sciart #marinemammals
#sciart #marinemammals
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Celebrating an incredible coincidence of history today: #OnThisDay in 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, and 115 years later, to the day, Lucy was found. 🏺
November 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Celebrating an incredible coincidence of history today: #OnThisDay in 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, and 115 years later, to the day, Lucy was found. 🏺
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Kestrels are such handsome birds. Lots out and about today, their plumage even more striking than usual. This shot captures the colors and patterns well.
November 22, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Kestrels are such handsome birds. Lots out and about today, their plumage even more striking than usual. This shot captures the colors and patterns well.
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
This (youtu.be/2AvfOhtmCZY?...) is an older @acollierastro.bsky.social video I must have missed, but it is brilliant in explaining the intensity of the bullshit of the adjunct system, for students and instructors.
the adjunct problem
YouTube video by Angela Collier
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 2:09 AM
This (youtu.be/2AvfOhtmCZY?...) is an older @acollierastro.bsky.social video I must have missed, but it is brilliant in explaining the intensity of the bullshit of the adjunct system, for students and instructors.
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are called the unicorn of the sea — for obvious reasons.
This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊
This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊
November 22, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are called the unicorn of the sea — for obvious reasons.
This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊
This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by @uoftlibraries.bsky.social: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038 #SciArt #ILoveBHL 🧪 📖 🌊
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
By studying #primates and closely related species, this new #RSOS study examines the evolution of the #cochlea, the mammalian hearing organ: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
November 22, 2025 at 10:01 AM
By studying #primates and closely related species, this new #RSOS study examines the evolution of the #cochlea, the mammalian hearing organ: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
#fossilfriday Sarah stands in for scale against the surprisingly large skeleton of the Jurassic pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni, on display in the "Mary Anning hall" at @nhm-london.bsky.social. This is a cast of the type, from the Whitby Mudstone of Yorkshire. @tetrameryx.bsky.social #2025SVP
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
#fossilfriday Sarah stands in for scale against the surprisingly large skeleton of the Jurassic pliosaur Rhomaleosaurus cramptoni, on display in the "Mary Anning hall" at @nhm-london.bsky.social. This is a cast of the type, from the Whitby Mudstone of Yorkshire. @tetrameryx.bsky.social #2025SVP
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Hey everyone! I’m excited to share that one of my thesis projects was just published in @currentbiology.bsky.social and featured on phys.org! In this paper, we use an old statistical approach developed by the US Navy in WW2 to predict the aquatic habits of various dinosaurs and marine reptiles 🦖🐊
November 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Hey everyone! I’m excited to share that one of my thesis projects was just published in @currentbiology.bsky.social and featured on phys.org! In this paper, we use an old statistical approach developed by the US Navy in WW2 to predict the aquatic habits of various dinosaurs and marine reptiles 🦖🐊
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
Aaah! New preprint from the Sethuraman Lab has dropped! Tamsen and I have been working on this for a while, and we can’t wait for your feedback. Short thread on our swanky new polyploid genome simulator, DemographiKs, and its functionality.
Hidden in Plain Sight. How Ks histogram dynamics can reveal and obscure ancient whole genome duplications. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.19.689290v1
November 20, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Aaah! New preprint from the Sethuraman Lab has dropped! Tamsen and I have been working on this for a while, and we can’t wait for your feedback. Short thread on our swanky new polyploid genome simulator, DemographiKs, and its functionality.
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
While the range of physical diversity dogs show is often thought to be the result of intense breeding over the last 200 years, a new Science study suggests domestic dogs began developing their distinctive forms thousands of years before humans started shaping modern breeds. https://scim.ag/4nVRhNq
The emergence and diversification of dog morphology
Dogs exhibit an exceptional range of morphological diversity as a result of their long-term association with humans. Attempts to identify when dog morphological variation began to expand have been con...
scim.ag
November 18, 2025 at 8:11 PM
While the range of physical diversity dogs show is often thought to be the result of intense breeding over the last 200 years, a new Science study suggests domestic dogs began developing their distinctive forms thousands of years before humans started shaping modern breeds. https://scim.ag/4nVRhNq
Reposted by Eric Ekdale
TL;DR We're looking for biology/evolution instructors in the US and Canada to test the impacts of inclusive evolutionary biology educational materials on undergraduate learning (you will be compensated). Pasting the official recruitment info in thread below. sunybuffalo.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
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sunybuffalo.qualtrics.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
TL;DR We're looking for biology/evolution instructors in the US and Canada to test the impacts of inclusive evolutionary biology educational materials on undergraduate learning (you will be compensated). Pasting the official recruitment info in thread below. sunybuffalo.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...