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risdenfromashes.bsky.social
Risden
@risdenfromashes.bsky.social
69 followers 220 following 15 posts
Paleontology enthusiast, Geology degree haver, Birder, Ace, wannabe Gaeilgeoir (táim fós ag foghlaim), He/Him
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Reposted by Risden
himmapaan.bsky.social
Anchiornis. Detail from a drawing from 2019.

A new paper by Kiat et al indicates that Anchiornis probably couldn't fly.

(But I still think it might have been capable of 'falling with style'.)

www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Detail from a pencil drawing of Anchiornis, a small feathered paravian dinosaur from late Jurassic China. It is mostly black and white with a red head crest and pins down a small lizard with one of its feet. The drawing is small and very intricate.
November 22, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Risden
amandamull.bsky.social
Just saw a guy wearing both a keffiyeh and a Gamecocks dri-fit polo because every combination of personal attributes is possible in Brooklyn. We have one of everybody
September 20, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by Risden
zoognosisjoy.bsky.social
Dinosaurs were ecosystem engineers! Like modern elephants, Dinosaurs knocked down trees, creating open floodplain landscapes with meandering rivers. After their extinction, Paleocene landscapes became dense forests with coal swamps. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Dinosaur extinction can explain continental facies shifts at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary - Communications Earth & Environment
Dinosaurs promoted open habitats in the Late Cretaceous, and their extinction could have led to a radical reorganization of the landscape and ecosystem structure at the beginning of the Paleogene, acc...
www.nature.com
September 15, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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coconnor8.bsky.social
Daughter was inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s work from Ghost Ranch, which is also the home of many coelophysis fossils

@dragonsofwales.bsky.social
August 23, 2025 at 10:01 AM
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kakapojay.bsky.social
A trio of Plateosaurus wander the ancient Trossingen at the height of the dry season.

#sciart #paleoart
A trio of Plateosaurus in a dry rocky landscape. One is right up against the camera with its mouth open, while the other two walk away.
July 30, 2025 at 6:47 PM
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rrvirdi.bsky.social
HOLD THE PRESSES

We (as a species) just discovered a brand new Sumerian myth!

Never before seen, recently (partially translated)

phys.org/news/2025-07...

This is a myth of a clever fox rescuing a storm god from hell...and given that the rescue from hell is usually lovers
Study translates fragmentary ancient Sumerian myth around 4,400 years old
A recent study by Dr. Jana Matuszak, published in the academic journal Iraq, examines the mythical narrative contained in a tablet (Ni 12501) dating to the Early Dynastic IIIb period (ca. 2540–2350 BC...
phys.org
July 24, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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sauriancyh.bsky.social
Visit to the mountain

A Zhejiangopterus climbs to the mountaintop, where the view is higher than any it had ever seen on its own wings.

Inspired by the Tang dynasty travelogue “My First Visit to the Western Hill” by Liu Zongyuan (始得西山宴遊記 柳宗元)
#paleoart #sciart
A Zhejiangopterus standing on a mountaintop, reaching out its broken wing towards the mountains, hills and clouds below. An inscription in Chinese says “My First Visit to the Western Hill” and the date for June 15th, 2025 in the lunar calendar.
June 15, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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jpober.bsky.social
The untimely death of Stephen Jay Gould, and his singular ability to ridicule this shit for the general public, is one of the great unacknowledged tragedies of this century.
jamellebouie.net jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Apr 12
frankly there are people in the press who treat discredited views as somehow verboten and forbidden views that are interesting as such
maiamindel.bsky.social Maia @maiamindel.bsky.social · Apr 12
There's been a committed effort by people like Richard Hanania into mainstreaming race science and eugenics and it's, shamefully, mostly worked. Hanania in particular is a crude, blathering moron bigot using fourth rate statistics to justify his gutter bigotry
April 12, 2025 at 5:38 PM
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markwitton.bsky.social
Iguanodon was named 200 years ago today, so here's (AFAIK) the first time it appeared in #paleoart: an 1833 watercolour/pencil study "Reptiles Restored, the Remains of Which Are To Be Found in a Fossil State in Tilgate Forest, Sussex" by George Scharf. That's Iguanodon on the left. #Sciart thread...
Watercolour and pencil sketch showing a Cretaceous landscape as understood in 1833. A lizard-like Iguanodon is shown at left alongside a large palm tree, its tail whirling over rolling hills in the distance. A meandering river bisects the scene, with other animals along its banks. These are, from the top down, a swimming plesiosaur in the stream, a monitor lizard-like Megalosaurus, stork-like birds, the spiky Hylaeosaurus, another swimming plesiosaur, a somewhat dog-like crocodile, and two turtles. The right side of the image shows fern-like plants, reeds and more palm trees.
February 10, 2025 at 9:49 AM
risdenfromashes.bsky.social
A nice perk of this snow day has been spending the morning watching visitors to the suet feeder. Plenty of backyard favorites got a nice breakfast to stave off the cold. Pictured: Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, Tufted Titmouse
A black metal rod that divided into two curved arms with a meshed box containing suet and partially covered with snow hung from its right arm. From the far side of the box the head and upper body of a Downy Woodpecker is visible. The background is covered with newly fallen snow with azalea bushes and the bases of three pine trees off in the distance. The early morning sun is casting shadows and golden light on the snowy yard. The same scene with a bright red male Cardinal hanging from the left side of the feeder. The same scene with a Brown Thrasher perched atop the right arm and with bits of my reflection visible (the poor image quality here was a consequence of both the light conditions at the moment and how easily spooked this particular bird is when I move) The same scene from a slightly different angle with two Titmouses, one hung from the bottom of the feeder and one perched atop the left arm.
January 22, 2025 at 5:20 PM
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valentinolasso.bsky.social
I know this sentiment is well shared, but every once in a while I think about how beautifully powerful and inspiring these paintings are.
January 22, 2025 at 5:01 AM
risdenfromashes.bsky.social
I really love how this old timey book of Christmas carols at my parents’ house casually drops incredible bits of lore. Everyone be on the lookout for talking animals come January I guess
A page of sheet music for ‘The twelve days of Christmas’. The subtitle notes that it’s a traditional English carol and is arranged by Norman Lloyd. The top of the page features an illustration of two songbirds in some foliage and a paragraph of text that reads: “The twelve days of Christmas lie between December 25 and Epiphany, January 6. It was on January 6 that the Three Magi brought gifts to the Christ Child in the manger - the first Christmas gifts! It was a common folk belief that on the eve of January 6 animals were given the power of speech.”
December 24, 2024 at 2:24 AM
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ppflieger.bsky.social
The mighty iguanodon BELLOWS to the sky in what's likely the first dinosaur pictured in an American magazine for children; Robert Merry's Museum, 1842; engraved by Hammatt Billings #fossilfriday
A dinosaur bellows to the sky; behind it, a plesiosaur paddles in a pool, while a tapir grazes nearby; a pterosaur flies unaerodynamically overhead
December 6, 2024 at 5:17 PM
risdenfromashes.bsky.social
Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline
A view of the crowns of a stand of pine trees which appear tall and narrow and pillar-like. The late afternoon sun is starting to cause the clouds in the background to take on a golden color
November 16, 2024 at 3:55 PM
risdenfromashes.bsky.social
If you see this, post a photo taken in the mountains.
View of a ridge of green, tree-covered mountains in Appalachia from an observation platform near Norton, Virginia. The peaks form a diagonal line off into the middle distance and are bathed in rays of light emerging from between several wispy cirrus clouds in the sky. Part of a chain link fence and some tree branches make up the foreground and more distant ridges are visible on the horizon.
October 30, 2024 at 2:27 AM
risdenfromashes.bsky.social
I’ve always found it interesting how, in spite of their ideological differences, Washington, Bolívar, Lenin, and the Atatürk all inspired similar cults of personality
worldhistory.bsky.social George Dillard @worldhistory.bsky.social · Oct 27
George Washington was a real human being, but Americans turned him into a symbol, more monument than man. One of the key ways that we did this was by slapping his image on everything.🗃️🧵
A George Washington commemorative plate
October 27, 2024 at 4:45 PM
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emychu.bsky.social
ʎpnʇs ɹoʇdɐɹ
October 26, 2024 at 3:22 PM
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barghest-land.bsky.social
ancient sun cast your light
cause there’s no hope in endless winter

Bogolubovia

#paleoart #sciart
A large pterosaur Bogolubovia stands on the beach, framed by the dim light of the sun due to a solar eclipse. The sky feels high and is heavily covered with clouds. A solar halo can be seen - it's getting quite cold, and it might just be this pterosaur's last winter.
October 23, 2024 at 3:42 PM
risdenfromashes.bsky.social
This Ruby-throated Hummingbird has taken to just chilling on the patio between trips to our feeder.
Such a lovely visitor!
A small green and white hummingbird perched atop a string of hanging lights with grass and foliage in the background
October 19, 2024 at 10:45 PM