Branden Holmes
@recentlyextinct.bsky.social
I run the world's largest website about recently extinct and rediscovered taxa: https://recentlyextinctspecies.com/
Order our book (all royalties to charity): https://publish.csiro.au/book/8047/
Order our book (all royalties to charity): https://publish.csiro.au/book/8047/
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Ghosts Behind Glass has been officially published by @uchicagopress.bsky.social!
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Ghosts Behind Glass
How museums display extinct species—and what these exhibits say about us. While it’s no longer possible to encounter a dodo in the wild, we can still come face-to-face with them in museums. The rema...
press.uchicago.edu
November 13, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Ghosts Behind Glass has been officially published by @uchicagopress.bsky.social!
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous book that tackles a deeply serious topic, this is a perfect choice. Would make a really thoughtful Christmas gift.
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Very important paper and resource. Bryophyte genomes expanded by one order of magnitude. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bryophytes hold a larger gene family space than vascular plants - Nature Genetics
A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.
www.nature.com
September 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Very important paper and resource. Bryophyte genomes expanded by one order of magnitude. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hit me with your coolest plant/animal/fungi facts.
September 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Hit me with your coolest plant/animal/fungi facts.
Reposted by Branden Holmes
"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people
August 9, 2025 at 11:07 PM
"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people
Do you have any writings on the current biodiversity crisis that you don't plan on doing anything with? Especially if aimed at the general reader. I'd love to host them on my website/database. Can provide user analytics once search engines index the content.
recentlyextinctspecies.com
1/n
recentlyextinctspecies.com
1/n
A Database of the World's Recently Extinct Species: Plants, Animals and Fungi - The Recently Extinct Plants and Animals Database
A database documenting the world's recently extinct, missing and rediscovered plants, animals, fungi and all other living things.
recentlyextinctspecies.com
August 6, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Do you have any writings on the current biodiversity crisis that you don't plan on doing anything with? Especially if aimed at the general reader. I'd love to host them on my website/database. Can provide user analytics once search engines index the content.
recentlyextinctspecies.com
1/n
recentlyextinctspecies.com
1/n
"Here we report on a complete skull of a new fossil Crocodylus from the Late Pleistocene...Phylogenetic analyses indicate the Atbara Crocodylus represents a separate species and is more closely related to the fossil African crocodiles than the extant forms."
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
A new late Pleistocene fossil crocodile from Sudan reveals hidden diversity of Crocodylus in Africa - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - A new late Pleistocene fossil crocodile from Sudan reveals hidden diversity of Crocodylus in Africa
doi.org
August 4, 2025 at 10:16 PM
"Here we report on a complete skull of a new fossil Crocodylus from the Late Pleistocene...Phylogenetic analyses indicate the Atbara Crocodylus represents a separate species and is more closely related to the fossil African crocodiles than the extant forms."
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Critics of #ColossalBio and #DeExtinction @toriherridge.bsky.social @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social, @flintdibble.bsky.social, and I have been targeted by "articles" attacking our credibility, looks like a targeted smear campaign against us for honest criticisms...
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...
Critics of de-extinction research hit by mystery smear campaign
Several researchers who have been critical of Colossal Biosciences’ plans to revive extinct animals say they have been targeted by online articles trying to discredit them
www.newscientist.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Critics of #ColossalBio and #DeExtinction @toriherridge.bsky.social @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social, @flintdibble.bsky.social, and I have been targeted by "articles" attacking our credibility, looks like a targeted smear campaign against us for honest criticisms...
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...
www.newscientist.com/article/2490...
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Mammals found most at risk as Australia's largest animals face 100,000 years of change phys.org/news/2025-07...
Mammals found most at risk as Australia's largest animals face 100,000 years of change
Over the past 100,000 years, Australia and New Guinea's large animal communities have been disrupted by extinctions and invasive species, altering entire ecosystems and threatening the conservation of...
phys.org
July 23, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Mammals found most at risk as Australia's largest animals face 100,000 years of change phys.org/news/2025-07...
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
July 14, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Bye forever, WeTransfer.
Reposted by Branden Holmes
The Science Media Centre has gathered several expert reactions to the "de-extinct the moa" publicity announcement. Each is withering in a different way. www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/07/09/m...
Moa "de-extinction" plans announced - Expert Reaction
An overseas company has announced plans to "bring back" the South Island giant moa.
Colossal Biosciences, working with Ngāi Tahu Research Centre and Canterbury Museum, says it expects to "resurrect" t...
www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
July 9, 2025 at 1:24 AM
The Science Media Centre has gathered several expert reactions to the "de-extinct the moa" publicity announcement. Each is withering in a different way. www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/07/09/m...
Reposted by Branden Holmes
I use this image when I teach about the consequences of biodiversity loss:
July 6, 2025 at 7:01 AM
I use this image when I teach about the consequences of biodiversity loss:
Hot take: taxa should be given an interim name until they are sufficiently understood to bestow an appropriate scientific name that is neither eponymous nor toponymous. The former is anachronistic (doubly so if extinct prior to humans), and the latter is arbitrary. Neither are informative.
June 15, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Hot take: taxa should be given an interim name until they are sufficiently understood to bestow an appropriate scientific name that is neither eponymous nor toponymous. The former is anachronistic (doubly so if extinct prior to humans), and the latter is arbitrary. Neither are informative.
Reposted by Branden Holmes
🔥ADVANCE ACCESS🔥: Herbariomic approach solved identity crisis of the putatively extinct Armeria arcuata Welw. ex Boiss. & Reut. (Plumbaginaceae)
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...
doi.org
April 25, 2025 at 2:16 PM
🔥ADVANCE ACCESS🔥: Herbariomic approach solved identity crisis of the putatively extinct Armeria arcuata Welw. ex Boiss. & Reut. (Plumbaginaceae)
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...
doi.org/10.1093/aob/...
Hot take. There are far too many book awards/prizes for fiction and not nearly enough for non-fiction.
March 26, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Hot take. There are far too many book awards/prizes for fiction and not nearly enough for non-fiction.
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Reminder that Shark Week "star" Forrest Galante is a bad scientist and a bad person who regularly takes credit for discovering things that local experts already knew about. This is not behavior Discovery should be praising, or giving a platform to.
https://buff.ly/2TtiydC
https://buff.ly/2TtiydC
November 23, 2024 at 2:13 AM
Reminder that Shark Week "star" Forrest Galante is a bad scientist and a bad person who regularly takes credit for discovering things that local experts already knew about. This is not behavior Discovery should be praising, or giving a platform to.
https://buff.ly/2TtiydC
https://buff.ly/2TtiydC
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Another example of "we don't even know what we don't know."
Two newly recorded frog species in Australia are being pushed to higher elevations due to continental warming and drying. They are basically trapped in small high-elevation refuges as warming "moves" uphill. 🐸 🧪 🌏
phys.org/news/2025-02...
Two newly recorded frog species in Australia are being pushed to higher elevations due to continental warming and drying. They are basically trapped in small high-elevation refuges as warming "moves" uphill. 🐸 🧪 🌏
phys.org/news/2025-02...
Newly discovered Australian frogs highlight dire limits of climate change adaptation
Two newly discovered species of Australian frogs may be unable to adapt to the escalating impacts of climate change, raising urgent conservation concerns from scientists.
phys.org
February 22, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Another example of "we don't even know what we don't know."
Two newly recorded frog species in Australia are being pushed to higher elevations due to continental warming and drying. They are basically trapped in small high-elevation refuges as warming "moves" uphill. 🐸 🧪 🌏
phys.org/news/2025-02...
Two newly recorded frog species in Australia are being pushed to higher elevations due to continental warming and drying. They are basically trapped in small high-elevation refuges as warming "moves" uphill. 🐸 🧪 🌏
phys.org/news/2025-02...
What search engines do you use apart from Google? Always looking for alternatives.
February 21, 2025 at 11:27 AM
What search engines do you use apart from Google? Always looking for alternatives.
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Our giant check-list of Australasian mammals is out! All your favourite amazing mammals in one spot!
New publication: taxonomy and classification of every fossil mammal species in Australasia—Wallace Line to New Zealand!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
An annotated checklist of Australasian fossil mammals
Australasia has had a rich history of discovery of fossil mammals, with the first specimens collected within Wellington Caves, New South Wales and described by Richard Owen in 1838. Currently, a to...
www.tandfonline.com
February 10, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Our giant check-list of Australasian mammals is out! All your favourite amazing mammals in one spot!
By far the biggest wasp nest I have seen.
February 14, 2025 at 4:40 AM
By far the biggest wasp nest I have seen.
Reposted by Branden Holmes
"Global plant crisis as botanic gardens exhaust ability to save plants from extinction." cosmosmagazine.com/people/socie...
Plant crisis for 3,500 botanic gardens worldwide
A century’s worth of data reveals that botanic gardens and arboreta have reached capacity, impacting their scientific and conservation goals.
cosmosmagazine.com
February 7, 2025 at 1:53 AM
"Global plant crisis as botanic gardens exhaust ability to save plants from extinction." cosmosmagazine.com/people/socie...
Reposted by Branden Holmes
Up until the death of the last one in 1936, the Thylacine was the largest marsupial on Earth since Australia's Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions. "Thylacine" from @csiropublishing.bsky.social presents a comprehensive examination of the these remarkable, mysterious marsupials. #Booksky
Thylacine
Shadowy, perplexing, only recently extinct, and now iconic, Thylacines survived the Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions of Australia and continued on throughout the Nineteenth Century in the Tasman...
www.wellreadnaturalist.com
December 24, 2024 at 3:31 PM
Up until the death of the last one in 1936, the Thylacine was the largest marsupial on Earth since Australia's Late Pleistocene megafauna extinctions. "Thylacine" from @csiropublishing.bsky.social presents a comprehensive examination of the these remarkable, mysterious marsupials. #Booksky