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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

With the final episode of Eons: Life and Death on Pangea out this week on PBS.org and the PBS app, it feels very appropriate to post this Lystrosaurus from @ummnh.bsky.social for #FossilFriday

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

We’re looking for researchers in any discipline of natural history: if you have a paper coming out and you want to pitch @pbseons.bsky.social on a potential episode about it, send me a DM! #scicomm #paleosky #FossilFriday (Arsinoitherium says please and thank you!)

Arsinoitherium skull with two giant horns

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Hi! I’m Darcy, an evolutionary anthropologist turned science communicator. My PhD was on primate hips & locomotion in fossil apes. Now I’m an editorial director at Complexly, working mostly on the YouTube channels PBS Eons & Bizarre Beasts!

A computer screen showing CT scans of a hip bone

Two scientists sit on a hill at the edge of a quarry lake with dig tools around them

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

The angle of this shot makes Hesperornis’s feet look super long Hesperornis regalis, ~80 million years old, from Kansas @ummnh.bsky.social #FossilFriday 🧪

A hanging skeleton of a diving dinosaur against a blue seascape background

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Bats in the fossil record: yeah, pretty much always looked like this. No awkward stage to speak of. Onychonycteris finneyi, 53 million years old, from Wyoming @ummnh.bsky.social #FossilFriday 🧪

Prepared skeleton of a fossil bat with a specimen label

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

I am, once again, asking #paleosky: is there anyone on here who is a big Permian nerd, has written about science for general audiences, and would like to do it again? DM me! Diadectes @harvardmuseums.bsky.social for eyeballs #paleontology #Permian #scicomm 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

This little guy is Arenahippus grangeri @ummnh.bsky.social. Dated to 50 million years ago, from the Eocene of Wyoming, it was one of the first horses 🐎 Can you see the family resemblance? #FossilFriday 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Dazzled by Dimetrodon? Enchanted by Edaphosaurus? If you’ve ever wanted to write for Eons and the Permian is your jam, please DM me! #FossilFriday #scicomm 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

The Pleistocene giant beaver, Castoroides ohioensis at the New Jersey State Museum 🧪 #FossilFriday #paleontology

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

This is also not a dire wolf, even if it looks kinda wolfy. It’s Sinonyx, a 56 million-year-old meat-eating mammal from China that had little hooves on each toe. #FossilFriday 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Just a little Bactrosaurus (a hadrosauroid from the Late Cretaceous of Asia) for #FossilFriday! Photographed at the Goseong Dinosaur Museum in South Korea 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Violets are blue, Roses are red, Edaphosaurus had A comically small head 📸 @ummnh.bsky.social #FossilFriday 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

A close encounter with a northern saw-whet owl for #SuperbOwlSunday 🦉

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Just some Permian weirdos, including the classic Diplocaulus boomerang-head and a skeleton of Seymouria @harvardmuseums.bsky.social #FossilFriday 🧪

A collection of Permian weirdo fossils, including a skeleton of Seymouria and a Diplocaulus boomerang-head

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

I would’ve liked to see a giant lemur… This is the cranium of Palaeopropithecus maximus @nhm-london.bsky.social for #FossilFriday! 🧪 #paleontology

Giant lemur fossil cranium against a black background

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Quetzalcoatlus northropi at Le Musée des Dinosaures in southern France for #FossilFriday 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Imagine this not-kitty staring in wonder at your Christmas tree… Dinictis is a nimravid or “false saber-toothed cat” from 30 million years ago & a member of the suborder Feliformia, which includes actual cats & cat-like guys, like hyenas & mongooses #FossilFriday 🧪 📸 taken @ummnh.bsky.social

A cat-like fossil skeleton mounted in side-view

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Happy #FossilFriday! This is Maiacetus, a 47 million-year-old early whale from Pakistan, hanging out @ummnh.bsky.social 🧪 I helped prep this fossil in undergrad 🤩 (and was totally freaked out by it when it was mounted on a hanging frame in the dark basement of the old museum 😂)

Maiacetus fossil hanging from a museum’s ceiling

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

It’s a throwback #FossilFriday to one of the coolest places I stopped on my move from NJ to CA: Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska. 12 million years ago, the horses, rhinos, camels, and other animals there were the victims of several feet of volcanic ash (pro tip: don’t breathe it in). 🧪 #scicomm

Two fossil skeletons perfectly preserved on their sides in pale gray ash

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Happy #FossilFriday! The big guy here is Edops craigi, a temnospondyl from the Permian on display at Harvard MNH. I can only assume he chomp 🧪

A large mounted temnospondyl head viewed from the top with three smaller fossils mounted above it

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

Just wanted to introduce myself to all the new folks here! I’m Darcy, an evolutionary anthropologist-turned-science communicator. My PhD was on primate hips & locomotion in fossil apes. Now I’m an editorial director at Complexly, working on the YouTube channels PBS Eons & Bizarre Beasts 🧪 #scicomm

A woman in a black mask and a red-orange shirt stands next to a mounted giant ground sloth in a museum

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

Meet Sinonyx, a 56 million-year-old meat-eating mammal from China. One weird thing about it? It had hooves…little ones on each toe. #FossilFriday 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 18/10/2024

Just a chonky beaky guy from the Triassic of Brazil @HarvardMNH He’s labeled as Scaphonyx, but it looks like this material has been referred to Hyperodapedon. Either way, he’s an ancient relative of the living tuatara #FossilFriday 🧪 🦎

A brown fossil skull with a beak in a glass-fronted case

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 16/10/2024

Just a pair of mastodon butts @ummnh.bsky.social for #NationalFossilDay 🧪 🦣 (Yes, I know, the emoji is a mammoth)

Two mounted mastodon skeletons seen from behind

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 27/09/2024

We need more living animals that are this orb-shaped The glyptodont Panochthus tuberculatus - an ancient South American relative of the armadillo at Harvard’s Museum of Natural History #FossilFriday 🧪

A mounted glyptodont fossil in a glass case

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 13/09/2024

Dimetrodon is probably the Permian critter with the most recognizable name, but I kinda prefer its similarly sail-backed cousin Edaphosaurus (@HarvardMNH) What were all those sails for? #FossilFriday 🧪 #paleontology

Side view of a sail-backed fossil skeleton

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 06/09/2024

I like to imagine he’s going “he he he” This is Xenacanthus, a shark-like critter from the Early Permian Red Beds of Texas. Photo taken @HarvardMuseum #FossilFriday 🧪

Brown skull of a weird shark-like thing, head-on, looking kind of like he’s smiling

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 23/08/2024

I hear you like weird skulls around here… Meet Tupuxuara, a 110 million-year-old pterosaur from Brazil @ummnh.bsky.social #FossilFriday 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

Another sea monster for #FossilFriday! 🧪 This mount of Dolichorhynchops (an ~80 million year old plesiosaur from Wyoming) @ummnh.bsky.social is so pretty

A marine reptile skeleton mounted against a blue ocean background

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 09/08/2024

Sea monsters used to exist Kronosaurus at the Harvard Natural History Museum for #FossilFriday 🧪

Panoramic shot of a huge ancient sea reptile skeleton

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 02/08/2024

More weird megafauna for #FossilFriday 🧪 This big lumpy guy is Uintatherium @ummnh.bsky.social. It lived 40 million years ago in Colorado.

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 26/07/2024

This strange herbivore lived in Argentina 20 million years ago. It has no living relatives, but probably lived like a hippo. Astrapotherium @ummnh.bsky.social #FossilFriday 🧪

A brown fossil skull with upper and lower tusks like a warthog

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 19/07/2024

Megafauna used to be mega-weird. This is Arsinoitherium @ummnh.bsky.social, a 34 million year old critter from Egypt, and a bizarre relative of elephants, manatees, and hyraxes. #FossilFriday 🧪

A beige-ish fossil skull with two giant chunky horns sticking straight up

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 12/07/2024

I’m going with Saadanius @ummnh.bsky.social for this #FossilFriday. This primate is 29 million years old and comes from Saudi Arabia. I remember when it was in the lab getting prepped! 🧪

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 28/06/2024

Restocked with new pics for #FossilFriday from my trip to @ummnh.bsky.social! This chonky fellow is Beelzebufo, the “frog from hell” from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar 🧪 🐸

Skeleton of an extinct frog with a really big head

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 21/06/2024

Visited some old friends @ummnh.bsky.social this week, in honor of #FossilFriday! Basilosaurus (my senior year work-study prep project 😍) is on the left, Dorudon is on the right. #NAPC2024 🧪 ⚒️

Two fossil whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 14/06/2024

It’s #FossilFriday! Here’s a skull of my favorite dinosaur, Parasaurolophus at NHM in London! 🧪 #paleontology

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 01/06/2024

Dinos on three continents for National Dinosaur Day! Swimbo the Spinosaurus at FMNH, Monolophosaurus and Klamelisaurus at the Goseong Dinosaur Museum in South Korea, & Tsintaosaurus at Le Musée des Dinosaures in southern France #NationalDinosaurDay 🧪

Spinosaurus mount hanging from the ceiling

A rearing sauropod dinosaur and two smaller menacing theropods

A hadrosaurid with a unicorn-like projection of bone on its forehead

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 24/05/2024

I’m going hominin this #FossilFriday! This is a cast of OH8, a Homo habilis foot with toothmarks that may have been made by a crocodile. #paleoanthropology 🧪

A cast of a partial Homo habilis foot missing the heel bone and toes on a piece of black felt in side view. There are little divots on the ankle bone.

A cast of a partial Homo habilis foot missing the heel bone and toes on a piece of black felt in top view. There are little divots on the ankle bone.

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 10/05/2024

How about another classic for this #FossilFriday? Sophie the Stegosaurus at NHM London 🧪 #paleontology

Mounted Stegosaurus skeleton on a tan platform against a green background

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 03/05/2024

How about a classic for #FossilFriday? Smilodon from La Brea at the Cal Academy of Sciences. 🧪 #paleontology

A brown, mounted sabertooth cat skeleton against a teal background

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 26/04/2024

Thinking about this guy again… Bradysaurus baini, a Permian pareiasaur, at NHM London for #FossilFriday 🧪 #paleontology

A mounted fossil skeleton with a chunky head that appears to be smiling

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 12/04/2024

One of the first hominin fossils I got to see in person: MH1, Australopithecus sediba, at the Perot Museum. 🧪 #FossilFriday #paleoanthropology The #scicomm workshop I was there for I call “the last fun thing before the pandemic.”

Australopithecine skull on a pedestal of matrix with assorted other bones around it on a black background

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 05/04/2024

For this #FossilFriday, in honor of the Smithsonian’s specimen becoming the type specimen, I give you Allosaurus fragilis (photographed at Dinosaur National Monument) 🧪 #paleontology #dinosaur

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 29/03/2024

The view of the Dryptosaurus battle from my old work station at the NJ State Museum for #FossilFriday

In the foreground there are fossils on a table, then a view through a window at two theropod dinosaurs fighting

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 08/03/2024

Since I went with Spino for last week’s #FossilFriday, here’s its spinosaurid cousin, Baryonyx, at NHM London! 🧪 ⚒️ #paleontology #dinosaurs

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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 01/03/2024

Throwback for this #FossilFriday to June! Opening weekend for Spinosaurus at the Field Museum, had to pop my head in on my way across the street for the Eras Tour to see him! #paleontology #museums

Spinosaurus skeleton hanging in the lobby of the Field Museum

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