iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Mojave Desert sunsets are some of the most beautiful in the world!

sunset with clouds brilliantly lit up with oranges and purples

Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The tarantulas are afoot! This little fellow was on my front porch when I got home...by coincidence, wandering across Permian-aged fossil footprints from the Coconino Sandstone.

black and dark brown tarantula walking across orangish-tan sandstone slab with raised fossil tracks

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Ventral, oblique, and side view here!

underside of lens-shaped ankylosaur osteoderm, brown in color, held in a person's fingers

oblique view of a brown-colored ankylosaur osteoderm, held in a person's fingers, showing the ridge on one part of the bone

side view of an ankylosaur osteoderm, held in a person's fingers

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Happy #FossilFriday! Here's the first ankylosaur osteoderm from our field area in the "Mesaverde" Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. We have a few teeth, but this is the first non-tooth fossil from these iconic dinosaurs. Collected under #BLMPaleo permit, accessioned at @alfpaleo.bsky.social 🧪

brown, lens-shaped fossil bone, with pitting and texturing on the surface

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The latest batch of spicy brown mustard is in the jar and ready to sit for a day or two while it mellows. It's going to go great with some brats on the grill later this week!

yellowish-brown speckled mustard in a mason jar with a metal ring and metal lid, sitting on a white surface

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Happy #HomeFermentationDay! To celebrate the fun of fermentation beyond just beer, I started a lacto-ferment for some heirloom beets from the garden. They are all covered in brine and waiting for some microbial magic to turn them into pickled beets.

clear glass mason jar with green silicone lid held in place by metal band. Inside the jar are white and red striped beet slices, covered in clear liquid

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

On Monday, I gave a presentation about paleontology, sponsored by the public library at my hometown in rural South Dakota (population 698). It was a blast, and I am glad to have had the privilege to speak about my journey. <thread>

person in Aquilops t-shirt talking in front of room of people

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Back where my love of museums started! Who would have thought it would end up as a career? The Douglas County (South Dakota) museum complex is a small-town gem, complete with two-headed calf and a bunch of local memorabilia from the history of the area.

Man in maroon t-shirt standing in front of brick building's door, with the sign "Museum" over the entrance

old fashioned doctor's bag, with picture of doctor in front of it

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Absolutely magical to spot this bobcat during my walk home tonight. I am so privileged to be able to live in a place where these are my neighbors!

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Absolutely *amazing* microCT scan of a little croc skull chunk from the "Mesaverde" Formation of Park Co., Wyoming. (short thread) 🧪🐊🦴

grayscale microCT scan of croc braincase region in coronal section, with light gray bone and dark gray rock occupying the internal space

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I'm proud of this label that I designed for one of my recent homebrews! Making beer is such an enjoyable and creative hobby, and it's fun to flex my brain in ways that the rest of life doesn't. Details on the beer itself at my blog: andybrews.com/2026/05/26/a...

A circular graphic, rimmed by a gold circle. At the bottom, a moonscape from a distance forms a half-visible globe. Text at top in large gold letters says, "Artemis Amber Ale." Below that is a large graphic of a hop cone, floating over the surface of the moon. Text below the hop cone says, "Ad astra per zymurgiam." At the very bottom, text says, "Farke Brewing, Claremont, California"

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

One of the biggest joys of museum collections is the fact that the fossils are preserved for the future. During a recent collection visit to the SDSMT Museum of Geology, I ran across some boxes of specimens that I helped ID and curate nearly a quarter of a century ago! 🦖🦕🧪

Brown cardboard box with handwriting that says Ceratopsian #3110 frill pieces

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Stunning view of a monarch caterpillar outside the museum today.

Striped monarch caterpillar feeding on plant

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Found this cute little tyrannosaur premaxillary tooth in matrix from the "Mesaverde" Formation of Wyoming (#blmpaleo permit, accessioned @alfpaleo.bsky.social) - another datapoint for our research! 🧪🦖

dark brown, nearly black, triangular tooth, held between fingertips

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Hey look, it's our state bird! A nice sighting on the evening walk.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Today is #GivingDay for my museum, @alfpaleo.bsky.social - if you are interested and able to support our research, collections, education, and outreach programs, head on over to www.webb.org/gd26 and designate "Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology" as the destination!

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I just got really, really, really excited by this fossil! Museum preparator Andrew has been working on this bit of skull from the "Mesaverde" Fm. of Wyoming (BLM permit, accessioned @alfpaleo.bsky.social). Turns out to be most of the back part of a croc skull - a VERY important specimen! 🧪🐊

White and brown bone in rock, next to scale bar. The bone is around 4 cm wide.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

That feeling when you notice that you're the human scale bar in multiple figures from the latest tyrannosaur paper that's receiving a ton of media attention. Cool work by Boeye & colleagues! Link: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

Size comparison between T. rex and several extant terrestrial vertebrates. Silhouettes of Tyrannosaurus, polar bear, human, and ostrich, to scale, with Tyrannosaurus largest. Silhouettes are sourced from Phylopic (Phylopic.org). Tyrannosaurus rex, credit to Matt Dempsey; Struthio camelus, credit to Ferran Seyol; Ursus maritimus, Margot Michaud; Homo sapiens, Andrew Farke. Silhouettes are scaled relative to one another and recoloured for the purposes of comparison. Links to the original image repository are provided in the electronic supplementary material, S1.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Are they raisins, or are they snails? No one will ever know.

Breakfast pastry in plastic wrapper with the label "raisin snails"

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Spinosaurus = Discount Saurolophus? At least in lateral view. (more seriously, the new Spinosaurus material is really cool)

image of Spinosaurus skull with crest, above image of Saurolophus hadrosaur skull with crest

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

My latest homebrewing project, using "Mars Malt" from Gambrinus, to make a SMaSH American amber ale. Details at the blog: andybrews.com/2026/02/09/t... #beer #homebrewing #homebrew #amberale

A glass of reddish amber beer with a foamy ivory-colored head, sitting on a stone surface surrounded by leaves.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Gorgeous wildflowers spotted on my short hike this afternoon! Blue dicks, a native plant also sometimes called "wild hyacinth"

a cluster of purplish flowers, at the end of a single stem

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

I needed a distraction, so drafted a new label/logo for my Munich dunkle recipe. Yes, it includes a bad paleontological pun. Recipe and tasting notes at my blog: andybrews.com/2026/02/01/d...

Silhouette of scuba diver being followed by the large prehistoric fish Dunkleosteus, underwater. The text of the label says "Dunkel-Osteus: A Dark Lager in the Munich Tradition" and "Farke Brewing, Claremont, California." It also includes the image credits, CC-BY; human silhouette by Gabriela Palomo-Munoz; Dunkleosteus by Russell Engelman

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

It's #TinyToothTuesday! One of the students found this little partial mammal tooth in matrix from the "Mesaverde" Formation of Wyoming. It is the 4th for this particular locality! Fossils collected under permit from #BLMPaleo and accessioned at @alfpaleo.bsky.social 🧪🦷

tiny black mammal tooth in glass vial, held between fingertips

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

A legitimately amazing sunrise this morning.

red sunrise over mountains with clouds brilliantly lit, with trees silhouetted in the foreground

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

A gorgeous little metatherian mammal molar from our "MegaMicro" site in the "Mesaverde" Formation of Wyoming. Around ~79 Ma; the square in the background is 10 mm; collected under #BLMPaleo permit, accessioned at @alfpaleo.bsky.social Happy #FossilFriday! 🧪🦕

dark brown mammal tooth with roots in side view on a white plastic background, with pieces of rock at the periphery of the image

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Sadly, I have now lost Whamageddon. Luckily, I continue to evade the Mariahpocalypse.

people sitting around a table with candles and festive clothes, with the text "I got Whammed!"

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

I got some stellar views of a great egret this afternoon! It's been hanging around our area, and was totally fun to observe.

tall white bird with long neck and yellow bill and gray legs, standing in a flower bed

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Excellent thread (speaking also as now ?mature stage of former teenage dino nerd)! I'll also, somewhat grumpily, say that many of us professionals also fan the flames of dino fandom, engage in meme-ing and fanbase engagement, and then are suddenly surprised when a fandom behaves like a fandom.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Over 200 turkey vultures just passed overhead. Totally not a sign of the apocalypse.

Swarm of turkey vultures circling in the sky

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Happy #FossilFriday! Any ideas what this is? The element was found in a bonebed in the "Mesaverde" Formation of Park County, Wyoming; roughly middle Campanian in age. (thread)

dark brown fossil bone, oddly shaped, with scale bar of 10 cm

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

The specimen is a great example of how taking a little extra time to collect a fossil can pay off. Part of the bone was in situ on the underside of a low sandstone ledge - a piece or two was directly below it, but others had washed a good distance away.

white and reddish fossil bone on underside of sandstone, with scale bar

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out this gorgeous juvenile hadrosaur jugal (cheek bone), collected this summer in the "Mesaverde" Formation of northwestern Wyoming. Our preparator Andrew is doing an amazing job cleaning it up. Collected under #BLMPaleo permit, accessioned at @alfpaleo.bsky.social 🧪

brown fossil bone, with 10 cm scale bar, on a white foam background

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Happy #FossilFriday! Earlier this week, I learned how to use our new 3D scanner. First up - some "Mesaverde" Formation hadrosaur bones. 🦕🧪

paleontologist smiling and pointing at fossil bone on a turntable, with the bone being bathed in bright light as part of the 3D scanning process

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

When I was 10, I wrote to Mark with my ideas about dinosaur digestion. His response was encouraging, gracious, and part of what kept my interest in paleontology alive, and likely led in part to my path into education with high schoolers. Thank you, Mark. 2/2

Letter with "American Museum of Natural History" in header.
3 December, 1991
addressed to Mr. Andy Farke, Armour, South Dakota 57313
Text of letter:
Dear Andy:
Thank you for the letter and drawing regarding your theory on gizzards in Coelophysis. Indeed, small rounded stones called gastroliths have been found within rib cages of prehistoric dinosaurs and their relatives. Furthermore, modern day crocodiles and chickens, close relatives of dinosaurs, ingest small stones. Based on this evidence, it is likely that the digestive system of Ceolophysis included a gizzard.

Though you are far away from the American Museum, I encourage you to keep up your interest in paleontology and science. There are many good books in the library that can help you learn about fossils and how scientists develop theories from them. Furthermore, many dinosaur remains have been found in your home state of South Dakota. They include Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops and Anatosaurus.

We hope you will get a chance to visit our museum in the future.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Norell
Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Watched this young male mule deer out my window yesterday - great views, and it was cool to see the small antlers (probably its first set).

close-up of deer head, showing a young deer with single tine antlers, against a background of brown and green plants and a road in the distance

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Happy #FossilFriday! One of our interns found this gorgeous little multituberculate mammal tooth, ~3 mm long, in "Mesaverde" Formation matrix from Wyoming. We're slowly building up the picture of this vanished world from ~79 million years ago. #BLMPaleo permit, accessioned @alfpaleo.bsky.social 🧪

black fossil multicusped tooth, rectangular in shape, surrounded by brown bone fragments.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

#ToeBoneTuesday Just found in the Teapot Sandstone of the "Mesaverde" Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Probably hadrosaur. #BLMPaleo permit, accessioned at @alfpaleo.bsky.social 🧪🦕🦖

Brown, rectangular dinosaur toe bone, held between fingers.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

One of our summer interns found this gorgeous multituberculate upper molar in matrix from the "Mesaverde" Formation of Wyoming (BLM Paleo permit, accessioned at @alfpaleo.bsky.social)! Maybe Filikomys? Mesodma? (leaning Fil) Gotta spend some more time with it to figure that out...(1/2) 🧪

small brown multituberculate mammal tooth, with many rounded cusps on top

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Finally, I made a logo for the beer - it's inspired by classic American lager labels, and shows a little Aquilops curled up around a glass of AquiloPils. This was a fun project and a great distraction! (5/n)

green ceratopsian dinosaur Aquilops clutching a glass of beer, with the text AquiloPils above in red script reminiscent of classic commercial beer brands

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

The batch turned out pretty great! I got the double enjoyment of serving it for Matt Wedel's birthday party a few weeks back; he was a co-author on the paper, the person who brought me on the Aquilops project, and a dear friend. (4/n)

Andy Farke & Matt Wedel, holding a beer and geeking out over Aquilops

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

I had a ton of fun building the Lego set with my kids...they are geeking out about it too! I never imagined "our" dino would be a Lego mini-fig, but here we are. (10/n)

Lego set depicting the horned dinosaur Aquilolps. It is shown in side view, getting ready to munch on a plant.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Incredibly cool to get up-close views of this epaulette shark at the Denver Zoo recently. We find a ton of orectolobiform teeth in our sites in the "Mesaverde" Formation of Wyoming, so it's quite helpful and interesting for me to see a modern example in the flesh!

close up of head of epaulette shark; the shark is shown from the snout to the gills' it is orangeish brown in color with some small black spots.

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Normally I worry about keeping the dinosaurs & trilobites safely in their cabinets, but it appears that a wild and very non-fossilized @scalzi.com managed to escape containment recently. (just long enough to give a commencement address - then he disappeared again; keep your eyes peeled, folks!)

bald guy at sunglasses pointing at another guy making a terrifying face or something

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Trash can poetry, as found in the Hall of Footprints at @alfpaleo.bsky.social I have no idea who wrote it (and tossed it), but it sure is thought provoking!

scrap of paper with the words "The foot prints you see are not the surface", in a trash can

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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Morning coyote, to go along with my morning coffee. Two of our local individuals stopped by this morning to sniff and mark the yard.

grayish coyote with reddish nose and ears sniffing at the grass in a backyard

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