Sarah Davis
@paleofeathers.bsky.social
she/her | PhD | paleontology | birds | color evolution 🦖🦆🦩
Collection Manager of Vertebrate Paleontology @ Carnegie MNH
Paleofeathers on everything
sarahndavis.weebly.com
Collection Manager of Vertebrate Paleontology @ Carnegie MNH
Paleofeathers on everything
sarahndavis.weebly.com
Pinned
Sarah Davis
@paleofeathers.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Seems like a good time for a 🦋 introduction!
I’m a paleontologist interested in the evolution/diversification of birds and in color evolution in dinosaurs! I’m the collection manager of vertebrate paleo at Carnegie MNH. I mostly post about cool fossils, museums, and my research. 🦖🦆🌈
I’m a paleontologist interested in the evolution/diversification of birds and in color evolution in dinosaurs! I’m the collection manager of vertebrate paleo at Carnegie MNH. I mostly post about cool fossils, museums, and my research. 🦖🦆🌈
Reposted by Sarah Davis
ppgm: an R package for integrating neontological, palaeontological & climate data in a phylogenetic comparative framework onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #SVP2025 @alexh-palaeo.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social @tamueccb.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 8:09 AM
ppgm: an R package for integrating neontological, palaeontological & climate data in a phylogenetic comparative framework onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #SVP2025 @alexh-palaeo.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social @tamueccb.bsky.social
Reposted by Sarah Davis
I updated collegetables.info with latest IPEDS data, also added visualizations on graduation rates and "demographic cliff."
Check also the naive Bayesian #rstats collegetables.info/predict.html page that may help students find good options.
All free, open source, etc.
Check also the naive Bayesian #rstats collegetables.info/predict.html page that may help students find good options.
All free, open source, etc.
November 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I updated collegetables.info with latest IPEDS data, also added visualizations on graduation rates and "demographic cliff."
Check also the naive Bayesian #rstats collegetables.info/predict.html page that may help students find good options.
All free, open source, etc.
Check also the naive Bayesian #rstats collegetables.info/predict.html page that may help students find good options.
All free, open source, etc.
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Some infographics about the Paleontological Research Institution, its continuing impact on research and education, and what is needed to keep this place around into the future after a major donor was unable to keep a pledge.
Keep them in mind! #FossilFriday #givingTuesday ⚒️🧪🦑
www.priweb.org/donate
Keep them in mind! #FossilFriday #givingTuesday ⚒️🧪🦑
www.priweb.org/donate
November 14, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Some infographics about the Paleontological Research Institution, its continuing impact on research and education, and what is needed to keep this place around into the future after a major donor was unable to keep a pledge.
Keep them in mind! #FossilFriday #givingTuesday ⚒️🧪🦑
www.priweb.org/donate
Keep them in mind! #FossilFriday #givingTuesday ⚒️🧪🦑
www.priweb.org/donate
Reposted by Sarah Davis
As I have been working with mammals a lot lately, I have had a lot of thoughts about how fur, feathers, or any other filaments affect the silhouette.
A coelophysis with feathers and without. Two completely different animals.
A coelophysis with feathers and without. Two completely different animals.
November 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
As I have been working with mammals a lot lately, I have had a lot of thoughts about how fur, feathers, or any other filaments affect the silhouette.
A coelophysis with feathers and without. Two completely different animals.
A coelophysis with feathers and without. Two completely different animals.
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Reminder that my lab is seeking graduate students for fall 2026. As part of @oupaleobiology.bsky.social, my lab uses a combination of fossils, statistical phylogenetics, fieldwork, & computational approaches to investigate macroevolutionary dynamics in the marine biosphere. Link w/ more info below:
November 12, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reminder that my lab is seeking graduate students for fall 2026. As part of @oupaleobiology.bsky.social, my lab uses a combination of fossils, statistical phylogenetics, fieldwork, & computational approaches to investigate macroevolutionary dynamics in the marine biosphere. Link w/ more info below:
Reposted by Sarah Davis
For anyone who can live in Flordia, a great opportunity in an amazing collection:
FMNH is looking for an experienced full-time Collections Manager II or III as Director of Invertebrate Paleontology Collections within the Department of Natural History.
🧪⚒️🦑
explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
FMNH is looking for an experienced full-time Collections Manager II or III as Director of Invertebrate Paleontology Collections within the Department of Natural History.
🧪⚒️🦑
explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
University of Florida - Details - FLMNH Collections Manager II / FLMNH Collections Manager III
explore.jobs.ufl.edu
November 11, 2025 at 4:20 PM
For anyone who can live in Flordia, a great opportunity in an amazing collection:
FMNH is looking for an experienced full-time Collections Manager II or III as Director of Invertebrate Paleontology Collections within the Department of Natural History.
🧪⚒️🦑
explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
FMNH is looking for an experienced full-time Collections Manager II or III as Director of Invertebrate Paleontology Collections within the Department of Natural History.
🧪⚒️🦑
explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Saddened for all the students applying to the NSF GRFP who feel they can’t bring their full selves to their personal statements this year.
Science is better with you in it. I hope you get the funding and keep doing excellent work.
Science is better with you in it. I hope you get the funding and keep doing excellent work.
November 9, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Saddened for all the students applying to the NSF GRFP who feel they can’t bring their full selves to their personal statements this year.
Science is better with you in it. I hope you get the funding and keep doing excellent work.
Science is better with you in it. I hope you get the funding and keep doing excellent work.
Reposted by Sarah Davis
lil crop of some birbs.
A bunch of the illustrations were sketches, most of them not in color. But coloring this rougher stuff was actually pretty fun~
#birds #sciart #mojavedesert
A bunch of the illustrations were sketches, most of them not in color. But coloring this rougher stuff was actually pretty fun~
#birds #sciart #mojavedesert
November 4, 2025 at 10:08 PM
lil crop of some birbs.
A bunch of the illustrations were sketches, most of them not in color. But coloring this rougher stuff was actually pretty fun~
#birds #sciart #mojavedesert
A bunch of the illustrations were sketches, most of them not in color. But coloring this rougher stuff was actually pretty fun~
#birds #sciart #mojavedesert
Reposted by Sarah Davis
SPEAK UP FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR.
conveniently printer paper sized. in case you want to spread the message or something
conveniently printer paper sized. in case you want to spread the message or something
November 3, 2025 at 11:33 PM
SPEAK UP FOR YOUR NEIGHBOR.
conveniently printer paper sized. in case you want to spread the message or something
conveniently printer paper sized. in case you want to spread the message or something
Reposted by Sarah Davis
"Cretaceous Thriller"
Sinocalliopteryx: the bird-swallowing dinosaur 🪶
Sinocalliopteryx: the bird-swallowing dinosaur 🪶
October 23, 2025 at 12:12 PM
"Cretaceous Thriller"
Sinocalliopteryx: the bird-swallowing dinosaur 🪶
Sinocalliopteryx: the bird-swallowing dinosaur 🪶
Reposted by Sarah Davis
New Collection Study Grants for students and postdocs to come visit the @burkemuseum.bsky.social! Applications due 12/15/25. www.burkemuseum.org/collections-...
Collections Study Grants
Collections study grants provide financial assistance for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to study the collections of the University of Washington Burke Museum (UWBM).
www.burkemuseum.org
October 22, 2025 at 11:21 PM
New Collection Study Grants for students and postdocs to come visit the @burkemuseum.bsky.social! Applications due 12/15/25. www.burkemuseum.org/collections-...
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Yutyrannus trio closing in on Dongbeititan 🦕 inspired by how the original material for Yutyrannus was a trio of individuals possibly indicating social behavior, and then the limited material for Dongbeititan includes a rib bone with a theropod tooth embedded! #paleosky #yutyrannus #dongbeititan
October 22, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Yutyrannus trio closing in on Dongbeititan 🦕 inspired by how the original material for Yutyrannus was a trio of individuals possibly indicating social behavior, and then the limited material for Dongbeititan includes a rib bone with a theropod tooth embedded! #paleosky #yutyrannus #dongbeititan
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Now available in Systematic Biology, a new paper (and R package) in which we outline an approach to account for non-independence in comparative analyses of lineage-pair traits academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
The Comparative Analysis of Lineage-Pair Traits
Abstract. For many questions in ecology and evolution, the most relevant data to consider are attributes of lineage pairs. Comparative tests for causal rel
academic.oup.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Now available in Systematic Biology, a new paper (and R package) in which we outline an approach to account for non-independence in comparative analyses of lineage-pair traits academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Reposted by Sarah Davis
SVP President @stuartsumida.bsky.social speaks to Open Access Government about the importance of vertebrate paleontology and science in the United States.
www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-importan...
www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-importan...
The importance of palaeontology, Earth history, and science
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology discusses the significance of paleontology, Earth history and science in this insightful opinion piece
www.openaccessgovernment.org
October 10, 2025 at 2:22 AM
SVP President @stuartsumida.bsky.social speaks to Open Access Government about the importance of vertebrate paleontology and science in the United States.
www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-importan...
www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-importan...
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience
BIRDBASE dataset tracks ecological traits for 11,589 species of birds
Çağan Şekercioğlu was an ambitious, but perhaps naive graduate student when, 26 years ago, he embarked on a simple data-compilation project that would soon evolve into a massive career-defining achiev...
phys.org
October 4, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience
Reposted by Sarah Davis
🚨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
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
October 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
🚨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
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Reposted by Sarah Davis
And that's how you integrate digital elements into an exhibition. Part of the temporary "China's Dinosaur World" at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, China. Closing this November.
Video source: Shanghai Let's Meet
Video source: Shanghai Let's Meet
September 27, 2025 at 3:02 AM
And that's how you integrate digital elements into an exhibition. Part of the temporary "China's Dinosaur World" at the Shanghai Natural History Museum, China. Closing this November.
Video source: Shanghai Let's Meet
Video source: Shanghai Let's Meet
Reposted by Sarah Davis
What are the biggest questions in #paleontology? New paper out today in Paleobiology led by Smith & Kiessling with ~200 coauthors on the relevance of our field, methods, & museum collections to climate & biodiversity research🦖 #FossilFriday @paleosoc.bsky.social 🔗: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
September 26, 2025 at 11:53 AM
What are the biggest questions in #paleontology? New paper out today in Paleobiology led by Smith & Kiessling with ~200 coauthors on the relevance of our field, methods, & museum collections to climate & biodiversity research🦖 #FossilFriday @paleosoc.bsky.social 🔗: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Sarah Davis
I was asked yesterday to post a walkthrough of Life Over Time, the shortest-lived and generally weirdest iteration of the Field Museum’s fossil halls. If you visited between 1994 and 2004, this is the version you saw. I’ve got some time, so let’s do this.
September 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
I was asked yesterday to post a walkthrough of Life Over Time, the shortest-lived and generally weirdest iteration of the Field Museum’s fossil halls. If you visited between 1994 and 2004, this is the version you saw. I’ve got some time, so let’s do this.
Reposted by Sarah Davis
For the @nytimes.com, I wrote about Joaquinraptor, a new species from a very cool family of dinosaurs: long-armed, hook clawed (possible) tyrannosaur relatives from South America
The Megaraptor Had Giant Claws and an Appetite for Crocodilians
www.nytimes.com
September 23, 2025 at 4:01 PM
For the @nytimes.com, I wrote about Joaquinraptor, a new species from a very cool family of dinosaurs: long-armed, hook clawed (possible) tyrannosaur relatives from South America
Reposted by Sarah Davis
🐦🔬 Recruiting PhD students! 🌎🧬
I’m looking for 1–2 PhD students to join our team starting Fall 2026 at the Sam Noble Museum & University of Oklahoma.
Our research: 🐦 birds • 🌍 biogeography • 🌴 Neotropics • 🧬 population genomics • 🌱 speciation
👉 Learn more: www.moncriefflab.org
Please share!
I’m looking for 1–2 PhD students to join our team starting Fall 2026 at the Sam Noble Museum & University of Oklahoma.
Our research: 🐦 birds • 🌍 biogeography • 🌴 Neotropics • 🧬 population genomics • 🌱 speciation
👉 Learn more: www.moncriefflab.org
Please share!
Moncrieff Lab | Bird Evolution
The Moncrieff Lab is a research lab based at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. Research in the lab involves museum specimens, fieldwork, and...
www.moncriefflab.org
August 25, 2025 at 11:58 PM
🐦🔬 Recruiting PhD students! 🌎🧬
I’m looking for 1–2 PhD students to join our team starting Fall 2026 at the Sam Noble Museum & University of Oklahoma.
Our research: 🐦 birds • 🌍 biogeography • 🌴 Neotropics • 🧬 population genomics • 🌱 speciation
👉 Learn more: www.moncriefflab.org
Please share!
I’m looking for 1–2 PhD students to join our team starting Fall 2026 at the Sam Noble Museum & University of Oklahoma.
Our research: 🐦 birds • 🌍 biogeography • 🌴 Neotropics • 🧬 population genomics • 🌱 speciation
👉 Learn more: www.moncriefflab.org
Please share!
Reposted by Sarah Davis
For #NationalHummingbirdDay, 47-million-year-old Parargornis from Germany was a proto-hummingbird with short wing feathers like a modern hummingbird but a short, broad skull like their cousins, the swifts. Perhaps hummingbird ancestors started hovering before they drank nectar. 🪶🧪 (📷Mayr)
September 6, 2025 at 11:40 PM
For #NationalHummingbirdDay, 47-million-year-old Parargornis from Germany was a proto-hummingbird with short wing feathers like a modern hummingbird but a short, broad skull like their cousins, the swifts. Perhaps hummingbird ancestors started hovering before they drank nectar. 🪶🧪 (📷Mayr)
Reposted by Sarah Davis
Canoodling sharks, dinosaur display arenas, and turtles who perished in the middle of the act, I'll tell you about the fossil record of courtship and mating in my latest for Smithsonian.
From Dinosaur Scratches to Insects in Amber, How Paleontologists Uncover Prehistoric Courtship
Researchers have found fossil evidence of varied creatures wooing and mating, as they continue to search for the telltale signs of dinosaurs copulating
www.smithsonianmag.com
September 5, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Canoodling sharks, dinosaur display arenas, and turtles who perished in the middle of the act, I'll tell you about the fossil record of courtship and mating in my latest for Smithsonian.
Reposted by Sarah Davis
"Precluding major reductions in the current extinction rate, we are witnessing what will become the greatest extinction event since the demise of the non-avialan dinosaurs 66 million years ago." 🧪
The Greatest Extinction Event in 66 Million Years? Contextualising Anthropogenic Extinctions
Species and ecosystems are changing rapidly in response to human actions, but how does this compare with the deeper past? We review and compare the current extinction event to those over the last 66 ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
"Precluding major reductions in the current extinction rate, we are witnessing what will become the greatest extinction event since the demise of the non-avialan dinosaurs 66 million years ago." 🧪
Reposted by Sarah Davis
October 1 deadline for @nhm.org Student Collections Study Award. Get some $$ to spend time collecting data in our collections, including @tarpits.org
Open to:
- current undergraduate and grad students
- *not* local to Los Angeles (international applicants welcome)
More:
nhm.org/student-coll...
🧪
Open to:
- current undergraduate and grad students
- *not* local to Los Angeles (international applicants welcome)
More:
nhm.org/student-coll...
🧪
Student Collections Study Award
The NHM Collections Study Awards provide funding for undergraduate and graduate students to visit and study the collections of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the La Brea Tar Pits & ...
nhm.org
September 4, 2025 at 9:13 PM
October 1 deadline for @nhm.org Student Collections Study Award. Get some $$ to spend time collecting data in our collections, including @tarpits.org
Open to:
- current undergraduate and grad students
- *not* local to Los Angeles (international applicants welcome)
More:
nhm.org/student-coll...
🧪
Open to:
- current undergraduate and grad students
- *not* local to Los Angeles (international applicants welcome)
More:
nhm.org/student-coll...
🧪