Sign in

Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD

@dsrovinsky.bsky.social
453 followers 204 following 733 posts

Thylacines, sabretooths, marsupial megafauna | Palaeobiology | Morphology, Evolution, Functional Ecology | Exhibitions Content Specialist at Australian Museum (he/him)

PostsRepliesMedia
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Yes! Look at that fur texture!! Delicious! 🥰
010
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
You owe me nothing but I would love some fun bespoke palaeochoices
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I thought that after we got rid of the thylacine, no sheep would die. Huh.🤔
010
Reposted by Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD
Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is obscene. Destroying something so precious for shitty memes? Just sickening.
026582
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This is gorgeous!
010
Reposted by Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD
Nic Rawlence @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I'll be giving a free public talk on "Mythbusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction" in Christchurch (in the central city) on Thurs 29th Oct at 6pm. It would be great to see you there. Spread the word. events.humanitix.com/myth-busting... @smcnz.bsky.social
events.humanitix.com
Myth busting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction
Associate Professor Nic Rawlence, University of Otago will speak on can scientists actually de-extinct animals, and more importantly, should they bring them.
02218
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It's like when they slap thylacine stripes on every single prehistoric metatherian predator any bigger than that. Ugh. So tired of this self-referential feedback loop everything is stuck in.
031
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
What a gorgeous animal!
000
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
You don’t see a lot of this within terrestrial vertebrates, which is why I have such a bugbear about using the phrase “apex predator” to describe e.g., lions. You can’t have an apex if your trophic system is flat!
020
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I lost SO MANY BOOKS when I moved to Australia. Entire bookshelves full left behind or donated to the local op shop. I really, really miss some of them.
010
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Oooooh you know how to tickle my fancy!
031
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Hadrosaur reconstructions have always been some of my favourites. No matter the era, they always have a sense... I dunno. Something that viscerally appeals to me. I love the rubbery lizard people ones, the old sad Trachdons, the noble slabs of duck, everything. So good.
120
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This is utterly stunning.
000
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Huh. Interesting.
000
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Yeah. More and more it seems that our choice are between worse and worse. This isn’t the future I was hoping to grow old in.
011
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Ground News does seem like a great source. I’m just not often using the internet to get the news 😅
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The functional* peer-review engine is Google Scholar… *becoming less & less so. But yeah - I’m often looking for very specific pieces of information, or esoteric things like anatomical drawings of the palmar surface of hyena manual phalanges. Bing shits a big brick. Google shits smaller bricks.
010
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
That’s not to say that Google is _good_; it’s demonstrably worse than it used to be. It’s just still better than the alternatives if you actually need to find certain things, and not just hand-wavy approximations.
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It’s not _just_ the AI results - it’s the fact that I can search for something very specific, and whereas Google gives me workable results (along with AI) Bing just seems to make wild guesses as to what it thinks I must have wanted. From a research/professional standpoint it’s just not functional.
120
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Until it isn’t a re-skinned Bing (or Google’s engine gets even worse) that isn’t likely to happen. I need search results that make sense, not vague guesses.
000
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Yeah, both Google Scholar and now just straight-up Google itself has started shitting the bed on me over the past few days. It’s… really not impressive.
2200
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Utterly horrible
010
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I have, and I agree with @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social . I don’t feel they are any more a window into reality than, say, what I experience when I’m drunk. They’re just making my brain Go Weird, & that’s really cool & fun & feels neat, but it’s not the Hidden Truth.
020
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Especially if that grad student is in palaeontology. I remember being brow-beaten by a professor about my sample size. I was like “Ma’am, we only have one of these. There aren’t more to get.”
170
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Whoa! Gonna have to sit with the methods on that, but wow that’s cool (or, rather - warm!)
010
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What an interesting find
011
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
What a flashback; seen so many of these things!
011
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I am excited for you. 😊
010
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
What an outstanding paper!
010
Reposted by Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD
Paul Z. Barrett PhD @nimravenous.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Happy to announce the publication of our article in Nature Ecology & Evolution on adaptive zone evolution in terrestrial mammal carnivores. Over the next few days, I’ll share the major results—and by extension, take you on a tour of carnivore evolution. (rdcu.be/6okG1hVhvtHa) 1/n
rdcu.be
2139
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Your ALT text is glorious btw
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This paper had a long, painful gestation & birth. Lots of iterations, direction changes, difficulties, and issues. It was a very weird one, and likely will be the last bit of research I will be a large part of. Wish many things with it were different, but that's most often the case! 17/17
030
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
...and there are unfortunately no adult heads in good enough preservation to look at the internal soft anatomy. To top it off, the reasons for a large IOF are varied and poorly understood. Heck, it could even be a developmental spandrel. 16/n
130
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
SideWeird, one of the bugbears of @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social was that the thylacine has a really large infraorbital foramen (IOF), which transmits nerves and blood to the snout, lips, and whiskers. What does that mean? Who knows! Thylacines don't seem to have had extravagant whiskers... 15/n
Infraorbital foramen (IOF) size plotted against body mass. The thylacine in purple has a very large IOF - but so do the sparassodonts in the dataset, and varying other comparatives. Interestingly, the mid-Miocene thylacinind Nimbacinus does not have a large IOF.
What does this mean? I don't know!
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Intriguingly, the shape doesn't seem to really exist anymore - but savvy palaeos know that it is one that has popped up in many lineages in the past. Including Andrewsarchus! Were these animals also quick+efficient canine-snapping at relatively smaller prey? Needs to be tested! 14/n
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This can be somewhat mitigated by moving the centre of mass farther from the joint (think of a hammer). And, of course, by simply being bigger. Perhaps the thylacine was quickly snapping at things while trying to get the most 'bang for the buck' out of the skull shape. Needs to be tested! 13/n
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
What does all this mean when put together? Because of how levers work, the tip of a long jaw will move faster than the tip of a short jaw. BUT it will also be at a bit of a strength disadvantage, due to the distance from the joint & muscles. 12/n
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Looking at the height of the snout at this narrowest spot also shows an interesting picture. Again, the thylacine and Andrewsarchus are outliers (though not the Ethiopian wolf this time). The snouts of thylacine & Andrewsarchus are long, narrow, expanded at the tip, & taller than expected. 11/n
Regression plot of the snout height at the narrowest point regressed against the snout width at the narrowest point. The thylacine in purple and Andrewsarchus both have far taller snouts than expected.
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The width at the narrowest part of the snout - the 'pinch' - compared to the width across the canines, regresses out pretty tightly. Oh - except for the thylacine... and Andrewsarchus. The only modern placental in the dataset was Canis simensis - the Ethiopian wolf. 10/n
Regression plot of the greatest width across the canines regressed against the least width of the snout. this represents how much of a terminal rosette there is.
The thylacine (purple point) and Andrewsarchus are very clear outliers - surprisingly similar snouts!Comparisons of the skulls of Andrewsarchus (top), thylacine (middle), and Ethiopian wolf (bottom). Black outlines show the terminal rosette, and blue lines the areas at which metrics were taken.

All three skulls clearly show the narrow snout with varying levels of expanded tip.
111
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Then we looked at something that has intrigued several people over past decades. The snout of the thylacine is narrow, has a bit of a pinch, then expands into a terminal rosette. Is it really different than in comparatives, and are there others like that in our dataset? 9/n
Three panel figure. Left are two regression plots, right show four example skulls. Don't worry about this one, we'll look at them closely next!
120
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Contrary to that, the skull width across the canines & across the main flesh-shearing teeth is narrower than expected. So, even though the head is big, the snout long, and cheeks broad, the actual bitey bit is... more graceful? Thylacine = purple Grey wolf = Black Dingo = Tan Coyote = Teal 8/n
Regression plot showing the width across the thylacine's canines (in purple) plots below other comparatives of a similar head size. The front of the skull is narrower than expected.Regression plot showing that the width across the main flesh-shearing teeth in the thylacine (purple dots) plots below comparatives with similar-sized heads. Their main biting area was less-robust than expected, and surprisingly gets even more relatively graceful as the thylacine is larger.
120
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Some of this seems to be driven in part by having a longer snout & wider zygomatics (cheeks) than expected for their skull size. The cheeks in particular get more emphasised in larger* thylacines (positive allometry). Thylacine = purple Grey wolf = black Dingo = tan Coyote = teal *all adults 7/n
Regression plot showing that the snout of the thylacine is longer than expected for their skull size. They (in purple) plot above the regression lines for similar-sized comparatives. Regression plot showing that the zygomatic arches (or cheeks) of the thylacine are wider than expected for their skull size. Their regression line plots above those of comparatives, and - interestingly, increases at a higher rate, showing that larger thylacines have even wider cheeks than would be expected.
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Digging deeper with old fashioned linear metrics, we looked at different aspects of the skull. We triple-checked the head size thing, and yup - even using a proxy metric from doi.org/10.1186/s129... the skull size was bigger than expected. 6/n
Skull size (as geometric mean) regressed onto occipital condyle width. The width of the occipital condyles has been found to be an excellent predictor for body mass by Russell Engelman (2022), so this can be seen as a cross-validation of head size. The thylacine (purple dots) plots unexpectedly well above the regression lines of comparative canids. Thylacine regression is significantly different in either slope or intercept from every single comparative!
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
One of the things that started this paper was @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social finding out that the thylacine seems to have had a big head in one of their datasets. We double-checked with my data, and yup. Kinda outsized skull there! 5/n
Two panel figure. 
Left shows the skull size (as 3D centroid size) regressed onto average body mass. The thylacine plots just outside the 95% confidence interval of the regression - that's a big head.
Right panel shows that the thylacine skull size (as 3D centroid size) is roughly the same as that of a grey wolf, even though the thyalcine weighed about half as much, and its skull was more similar in shape to smaller-headed animals.
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We took previous data from my PhD and added a few new data points: a South American sparassodont Borhyaena tuberata, the mid-Miocene thylacinid Nimbacinus dicksoni, and the wicked-huge Eocene Andrewsarchus mongoliensis. Intriguingly, Andrewsarchus often plotted close to the thylacine... 4/n
Four panel figure. 
Top left are comparison photos and skulls of the thylacine and the grey wolf.
Top right is a Principle Components Analysis (PCA) morphospace of 3D geometric morphometrics data (3D GM) of the entire skull. This is a fancy 3D shape analysis. The two thylacinids plot relatively close to the giant Andrewsarchus.
Bottom Left is the 3D GM PCA of just the skull snout. Again, the thylacine and Andrewsarchus are surprisingly close. 
Bottom right is the 3D GM PCA of the back of the skull. Here, there is a clear separation between placentals and marsupials. Marsupial brains are kinda small...
111
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We took a look at some interesting features of the thylacine's skull and had some thoughts about what they might mean. 3/n
Left: photograph of a pair of thylacines, colourised by one of the authors. That author is me. Yes, when you see this colourised image on the web, I did that. 
Right: 3D scanned thylacine skull from the top-down (top image) and left side (bottom image)
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The recently extinct thylacine (aka Tasmanian tiger) has always been an iconic critter, in parts due to the convergence with placental predators, its recent extinction at the hands of humans, and the surprising near-complete lack of observational data. Lots we don't know, even if we have video! 2/n
110
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Like thylacines? Of course you do. A little thread on some recent research I was part of with @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social here 🧵⤵️ #SciComm #EvoBio #PaleoBio #Evolution #Paleontology 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Skull morphology of the extinct Tasmanian tiger suggests unique biting style - Nature Communications
The recently extinct thylacine was Australia’s largest marsupial predator and famously likened to dog-family carnivorans such as wolves. However, here the authors show that its skull functioned differ...
12810
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Stunning work (as always)
000
Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
That looks great. Miss venison…
010