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Ambrox

@ambrox.bsky.social
1.1K followers 220 following 72 posts

She/they. A paleontologist who makes paleoart and overshares on the internet. All opinions are my own. My shop: ambroxrocks.etsy.com My kofi: ko-fi.com/ambrox

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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Oh to my surprise when someone comes in asking about bones and pulls out a bunch of Pleistocene beaver remains! I hope there’s the rest of the skeleton still in the riverbank!
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Krista Koeller @kristalerista.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
One of my favorite things about mammals having to have exactly 7 neck vertebrae, no more, no less, is that to make your neck a different length, you have to change the length of your vertebrae. This has gotten very silly in dolphins. 📷Tursiops truncatus: macroscopic solutions, earth. com
7 vertebrae that are mostly thinner than pancakes. They look like normal vertebrae that got sat on.A bottlenose dolphin at the side of a tank, perched and arching its back so its tail and nose are in the air. The distance between its flippers and eyes is not that far. I guess its neck really is short in there.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I got some lifers and good photos on this year’s Montana trip!
A picturesque black and white warbler sitting amongst the cedar branches, a lifer for me!A sneaky prairie rattlesnake mid-tongue flickAn eastern kingbird perched on a barbed wire fenceA male spotted towhee in the underbrush
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Therapist: so, how have you been doing? Me: oh, pretty good; I have a new bully now! T: huh?
Intimidating picture of a bloodthirsty deer at night
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
And another one!! A Primobucco has been finished after 5 collective months of scraping! I’m so happy how this one turned out, I’m sincerely hoping I can work on more of these Green River birds in the future, given we can get ahold of any. Also pictured is a modern relative of Primobucco.
A zoom in of a fossil bird headA fossil bird next to a scale in inchesA lilac-breasted roller, credit to Laya Clode.
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paper beetles OUT NOW! @sneepsnorp3d.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
AVAILABLE NOWWWW!! :D
Anomalocaris stuffed animal on a blue water background. Text on the image reads, "The Anomalocaris Plushie."
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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
No, Colossal's resurrected nothing. They made designer dogs to look like Game of Thrones animal actors. And Colossal co-founder George Church? Friend of Epstein who kept the predator's genetic samples in his Harvard Medical School lab, which were pushed as priority for sequencing. Do. Not. Trust.
statnews.com
Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church
Exclusive: Harvard geneticist George Church knew more about Jeffrey Epstein's activities than he has previously said, before accepting new donations from the sex offender.
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Dr. Adeene Denton @spacewhalerider.com · 11/05/2026
"Scientists don't want you to know-" Buddy there are so many things I, as a scientist, want you to know and the only thing stopping me from writing more papers and posts about it and then starting a podcast to tell you even MORE things is that I am limited by hours in the day
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 10/05/2026
I really wish people aspiring to write understood what a competitive advantage being able to write without AI will be in the coming years.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Today’s been great for pictures of migratory birds here in my backyard! I’ve seen indigo buntings, a rose-breasted grosbeak, and a scarlet tanager so far!
Two indigo buntings perched on a branch, male to the right and female to the leftA male rose-breasted grosbeak on a feederA handsome male scarlet tanager
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Sorting microfossils comes with so many little joys, including making a category solely for “turtle toes”
A bunch of bones sorted into a plastic bin, labels include “turtle toes”, “crocodilian teeth”, and “fish bones/verts”
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Not me crying over some cute bats just flappin’ around 😭
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 19/03/2026
Landscape Features xkcd.com/3221/
Comic. [Small panel overlaying large panel.] PERSON 1: What’s up with this weird landscape? PERSON 2 with ponytail: Oh, it was caused by… [Large panel is map of the United States with with red overlays denoting landscape phenomena. Mega-floods in the northwest, a plate tectonics speedrun on the west coast, volcanoes next to the west coast, water and time in the southwest, geology in the west, a supervolcano within the west, glaciers in the north, farming in the middle, rivers in the mideast, geology in between rivers and farming, ??? toward the northeast, farming on the east coast, continents colliding next to the east coast, ongoing disputes between limestone and water in the south of Florida, volcanoes in Hawaii, geology in Alaska with volcanoes and glaciers below.]
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
A Dutch lock is closed for the spring, and its employees want you to tell them when migrating fish come knocking by ringing a digital doorbell
scientificamerican.com
Ding-dong! The Dutch Fish Doorbell needs you to help migrating fish
A Dutch lock is closed for the spring, and its employees want you to tell them when migrating fish come knocking by ringing a digital doorbell
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Arrested Development "one banana" meme. Text: It's one article, Michael. What could it cost? $10,000?
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Coon creek dig this past weekend was quite nice! These shells are approximately 76 million years old, but retain their original shell material!
A tabletop with fossil shells littered around. They aren’t fully cleaned yet.
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Richard H Fay — Artist, Photographer, and Poet @azurelionprod.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
www.sci.news/paleontology...
sci.news
Rare Fossil of Baby Dome-Headed Dinosaur Unearthed in Canada | Sci.News
Paleontologists have described the youngest example yet of a pachycephalosaur body, offering a look at how these dinosaurs grew and moved during their first months of life.
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Ben Sears @bensears.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Summer 2025 edition
A black and white drawing of a sweating ICE agent, looking over his shoulders at a bunch of disembodied eyes watching him. The text reads WE CAN SEE YOU
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 02/01/2026
"I don’t know why my fellowship was terminated. I suspect that it has something to do with studying a species that doesn’t fit the binary of what we expect to see in nature, with completely different males and females." @carlzimmer.com profiles my wonderful coauthor @jjinsing.bsky.social Gift link.
nytimes.com
He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males
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Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Pachycephalosaurus sold at auction donated to NMNH, will be on display next week www.si.edu/newsdesk/rel...
si.edu
Smithsonian Acquires Exceptionally Complete Skull of Iconic Dome-Headed Dinosaur
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
A mischievous archaeopteryx has appeared!
An abstract looking archaeopteryx on a plain green background
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Megacerops was a large ungulate from the White River Formation (38-33 million years ago) of the Midwest in the US. They resembled Rhinoceros, but had bony nasal horns that were covered by skin, not a keratin horn! #paleoart #fossilart
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Mega Dragonite Done in procreate as an unintentional 1hr speed paint #pokemon #dragonite #megaevolution #pokemonAZ
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Here are some of the fossil finds from this year’s dig season: the crown jewel being a Tyrannosaurid tooth. Also shown are a Metasequoia cone, a fossil tendon, a crocodilian tooth, and some freshwater ray crushing teeth, plus some amber!
A Tyrannosaurid tooth, with serrations and partial root. Next to a scale of one inch increments.A metasequoia seed cone sitting next to a dinosaur tail tendon fossil. Next to a scale of one inch increments.A collection of microfossils, from left to right: a crocodilian crushing tooth from a brachychampsa, a bowfin fish jaw section, two freshwater ray teeth from Myledaphus, and a vertebra from a gar fish. Next to a scale of one inch increments.A chunk of Amber, crystallized from tree sap.
Next to a scale of one inch increments.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
My first big bird project is done! I’m excited to show you all this bird that took me so long - at least a few months! This guy comes from the green river formation and is the most common bird found there: Primobucco mcgrewi.
Full slab view of a Primobucco, a type of roller-like bird, from the green river formation.Zoom in of the head of a Primobucco, a type of roller-like bird, from the green river formation.Image of a modern roller bird, the long-tailed ground-roller. 
© Nigel VoadenA “before” image of the Primobucco specimen.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Here are the answers to today’s #findthefossil! Some of the suspicious looking bits are actually dead sagebrush leaves. Included in the mix here are turtle bits, various dinosaur chunks, and maybe some crocodilian bone pieces. I’ll try to post some more of these challenges in the future!
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
Here’s a game for y’all! I have a picture with fossils in a “float” deposit, where they’ve been washed out of the rock and precipitated out in the ground in the hell creek formation! Let’s see how many you can spot! I’ll post the answer in a little bit! Instead of #findthatlizard , #findthatfossil !
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
It’s time for: a creature spotlight! On the ranch where the crew and I dig every year, there are harvester ants that gather and sort small sediment for their hills! They are known to grab small microfossils (like teeth) and small bits for their hills, including bones!
A western harvester ant in Montana An overhead view of a harvester ant hill, which includes bones of a small animalAnother harvester ant hill with abundant white gypsum crystals included
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
I’m alive!! I had the wildest field session this year, including a brush with a wildfire and some cool wildlife! Stay tuned for photos of the stuff I found on my dinosaur dig this year!
A plume of a distant wildfire in makoshika state parkA prickly pear cactus mid bloom in Montana A prairie rattlesnake, mid-shed, perched on a dry creek bed bank in Montana A Least Chipmunk in the brush in Montana
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TheDinosaurMann @thedinosaurmann.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
This makes me sick... and angry. 😡
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Gonna be cleaning some scraggly T. rex bits to sell in my shop at some point. Keep an eye out! Hopefully I can get them listed before I head out on this year’s trip! Unfortunately, these bits aren’t worth salvaging as an entire specimen due to how much weathering had been done to it. #hellcreek
The majority of the bone fragment haul. Also included in the picture is a Primobucco cast I painted myself and a doormat that desperately needs to be painted.A closeup of the nicer rex bits, toothbrush for scale
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Bothriolepis on the brain
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
A micro texture on a placoderm fish from presumably the red hill deposits in PA. So cool to see these up close!
The micro texture on a jawless fish from the Devonian of Pennsylvania.Zoomed out on a jawless fish fin covering from the Devonian of Pennsylvania.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
A second bird! Likely a larger waterfowl like presbyornis. Sources from the green river formation.
The keel (chest), humeri (upper arms), and ribs of a large bird from the green river formation of Wyoming, ~50 mya
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Gory Thing @korybing.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Instead of believing the myth that three expensive, genetically modified wolves are “de-extinct” dire wolves, let’s look at animals humanity has actually brought back from the brink of extinction using proven science and dedicated hard work: 🧵/6
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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
I wrote this nine years ago 😭
aeon.co
Extinction is forever: de-extinction can’t save what we had | Aeon Ideas
Even if it works, genetic resuscitation would begin something new; it can’t restore what we lost. Extinction is forever
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
I’m moving! I’ve put up a limited time 20% off sale to help get some stock moving in my €tsy shop! Here’s a brief look at my items:
Cretaceous gar scales in a floating frameA chunk of Cretaceous petrified woodA chunk of Cretaceous petrified woodA chunk of Cretaceous petrified wood
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Things have been rough these past few weeks, my apologies for the lack of posts! I’ll be updating y’all on some cool personal projects here in the next few days!
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Not every day you see an allosaurus skull rubber banded up for repairs 😂
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
There’s a mean skunk outside our bedroom that has sprayed twice this past year… it’s surprisingly difficult to fall asleep to skunk smell.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
A pachyceohalosaurus I drew while at #paleofest! It was a blast meeting and seeing so many people I look up to! This guy is based off the skull model in the Burpee Museum in Jane the Juvenile Rex room!
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Spherotholus and Kulindadromeus, Done in inks and marker. I’m available to do others for commissions! #paleoart #ink
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Steamed owlette anyone? (In all seriousness, I didn’t get the steam up under this gorgeous eastern screech owl. I’ve been correcting the pinnate feathers on this guy) #museum #taxidermy
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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/s...
nytimes.com
Hummingbirds Living in a Hive Found for the First Time (Gift Article)
In a remote mountain cave in Ecuador, hummingbirds were discovered sleeping and nesting together.
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
For an early #fossilfriday, here’s a timelapse of me working on a piece of triceratops frill!
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Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
theithacan.org/59106/news/m...
theithacan.org
Museum of the Earth faces closure
The Paleontological Research Institution and its connected locations — the Museum of the Earth and the Cayuga Nature Center — are at risk of shutting down after the institution’s donors, who have not ...
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
It’s time to groom and tidy up a hawk! This guy had paint on his tail feathers! Hopefully a good swabbing and a small amount of steam will help him look like new.
Red tailed hawk taxidermy with paint on its tailRed tailed hawk taxidermy with terribly aged paint on its toes
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
Little late for #fossilfriday, but here’s a finished Messelornis leg from the green river formation! The guy who worked on this previously did me no favors by breaking the femur and tendon remains, hence the bedraggled appearance.
Bird leg slab and counter slabZoom in of bird leg slab and counter slab Detail shot of tendon fibers from the bird leg
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Virtual Conference For Women Archaeo and Paleo @women-archeopal.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Register for the VCWAP! You will listen to a variety of speakers, see posters and scientific art, enjoy a workshop and roundtable and join in conversation with all the other attendees. Registration is FREE and open to all 🌟 Regardless of employment status and gender 🌟 framaforms.org/virtual-conf...
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Ambrox @ambrox.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
For #trilobitetuesday, here’s a fancy lil Morocops from the Devonian of Morocco that is in my collection!
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