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Reader of Entrails

@haruspex.bsky.social
1.7K followers 757 following 2.5K posts

Zoo pathologist 🧪💀🧑🏻‍⚕️ She/her 🏳️‍🌈 Unsettling animal facts, inadvisable humor, & ridiculous cat pics. Posts are my own and do not represent current, past, or future employers. My day job: www.sciencefriday.com/segments/zoo-…

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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Almond-shaped. This has triggered a quote that lives rent free in my head. A friend’s mom defended their not-bright family cat from aspersions cast by her son with, “Don’t make fun of him; he has a little almond brain!” And now my spouse and I use it constantly re:our dim-but-cuddly kitty.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Congratulations! What a huge win for science and all the endemic species that will be sequenced!
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Is there a folk ballad on them yet? A sea shanty? I don’t know why, but I have a yearning for a rhythmic melody and some minor chords and some funky lil dudes.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Geosmin! Which is an awesome smell in dirt, but one I object to in my food. I’m very intrigued by this mythical mutant un-be-dirted beet. You have my full attention. I happily accept that a beet that doesn’t taste like a beet would tempt me to try it.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I was once asked for my preferred method of cooking beets, and I offered, “IN THE FIRES OF HELL FROM WHENCE THEY CAME.” But I think using them to befriend cows sounds nicer and prevents food waste. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I genuinely wish I could enjoy them. My spouse adores them, so I make them sometimes, and I’ve been told I do it well. Alas, I fundamentally object to the taste. More for others!
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
<Tom Hardy in Fury Road THAT’S BEET.jpg>
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
You can’t fool me. That’s a fucking beet. 🫜 I’m onto those tricky bastards. “Oh no, I am beautiful and leafy, please call me Chard.” <pulls off mask> BEET GREENS “Oh, help, I am a niche heirloom mangelwurzel.” YOU ARE DIRT IN A DESCEPTIVELY VEGETAL PACKAGE, AND I WILL NOT SUCCUMB TO YOUR WILES.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Back to the mundane world after another FANTASTIC Dragon Con (woo Science Track! @dconscitrack.bsky.social) Thank you to all the contributors, fans, and volunteers who make it all amazing.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Those folks are about to have a really good time!
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I have recommended the series to some school librarians and teachers, and I’m sure others have done the same. You never know when a rec will bear fruit!
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Totally understand, but damn. We miss you a lot! 😭
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Carotids, being arteries, are both a little more robust and a lot stretchier than veins. Sharpness matters a lot with cutting those.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I am so sorry I missed this! The jugular is superficial and can definitely be fatal if one is severed. Both being severed is faster. Going deeper, to the carotids, is rapidly fatal. Severing the trachea can also do it. Depth will depend on build, but 2cm deep across the front would kill most folk.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
If anyone is looking for alternatives to desecration of your household vacuum, a wee shopvac is like $35 and handles a multitude of sins. (This lesson was learned in a situation of some urgency this spring, and I was shocked at how affordable it was.)
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
This is just to say I have pitched the toad that was In the icebox And which you were probably saving for necropsy Forgive me it was disgusting So flat and so rank.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Could also be divide by zero error, but I like having a nice one 😂.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Everything is copacetic? Nil issue.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This week has been brutal for the loss of cultural heavyweights. I loved the Kusama exhibits I’ve been able to see, and I always thought of her when admiring fish ovaries. I really think she’d have dug them.
A microscope field of variously-sized pink and purple dots. These are ovarian follicles from a sunfish (Lepomis spp) in different stages of development. They are beautiful and organic and remind me of Kusama’s dot-based art.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
If something hatches out of this, so help me, I will not be responsible for the level of self mutilation I deploy.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
It’s possibly totally ok! Might just be sensitive! But also worth checking in on (I have been firmly informed).
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
It, uh, definitely could have been worse. 😂
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
My dude, this girly went up my shorts, scaled my inner thigh, and hit me in the chub. The softest , flubbiest, most vulnerable bit of leg. It was so rude. 😤
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I actually like and respect wasps *in theory*. They are super ecologically important and hella fascinating! (Highly recommend the book Endless Forms for a delightful dose of wasp propaganda and nerdery). But fuck if I and my subsequently ballooning body parts do hate EVERY interaction with them.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Apparently it’s normal for it to be temporarily more painful than a mosquito bite & to then have a coin-sized itchy welt for a few days, but as soon as you start comparing the swelling to citrus fruits, it’s a Large Local Reaction & worth discussing with a doctor before developing anaphylaxis.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Today I learned it’s not actually normal to have 5-6 in diameter local swelling for a week following a wasp sting, and I should probably talk to a doctor about my terrible wasp luck. Sweartogawd, I legit thought that’s why people hate wasps.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
1) I am not an isopodologist, but I wonder if they are adapted to fairly low O2 environments like soil and the bottom of logs. Basically , I dunno how much O2 it takes to run a pillbug. 2) It clearly stayed in the vegetation. Possibly passed out and revived upon introduction of O2.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I’m in the same boat. Poor lil critter went through the wringer, survived, escaped at the earliest opportunity , and then got murked for a lab test. Worst D&D campaign.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
As mentioned, it’s WNYC, but it’s often locally carried by stations that are NPR members, so the confusion is very understandable. I’ve never been on Radiolab, but I was on Science Friday (also WNYC), and that was not paid. Which is good, bc they can use that money better elsewhere.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
This is so cool. I’m not a shoe person or a craft person, so my admiration comes from a rather boring place, but I hope you are so thrilled with these shoes, they are RAD.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I think a lot of people were down on killing civilians with drones moreso than wanting to do it with planes. The working definition for “enemy combatants” was concerningly broad and worth scrutiny and critique.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
You do it. I gotchu. A slightly less cursed fact about them: they twine their tails with their buddies’ and lovers’ as an “affiliative behavior”. It is legit adorable when two monkeys are just vibing with their tails in a lil twist bc damn right if I had a tail I’d be fully swirling it w my buds.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Today in “People ask me random weird questions, because I am their Trusted EsotericaMonger™️”: What color is the fat of a titi monkey? Now, critters can have a variety of hues to their fat based on species, diet, or when they ate last, but in case you ever need to know… a titi’s fat is orange.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Philosophically, is it a more significant death than being fundamentally changed by an experience? And isn’t it interesting that they chose transporters to be extensions of replicators rather than extensions of warp tech? One requires (arguably) death, where warp tech just moves an object.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Yes! I believe there is Star Trek lore about extreme existential angst and philosophical stuff surrounding the uptake of transporter technology. It also raises the possibility of resurrection. If you *do* have a scan stored, you could just take the memory hit and walk off your death.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I swear I have read at least one book somewhere that included a variability algorithm and tolerances for certain ingredients in replicated meals for this exact reason, and I can’t remember where.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I believe that, canonically, the scan is part of the transport process. It’s scan-evaporate-reconstitute. That’s why you can transport back with mussed clothes and injuries. It’s not just *A* Spock. It’s The Exact Spock Who Was Dematerialized Elsewhere.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
You absolutely know Zendaya has said more than once, “Wow, that’s a really nice rock, babe” to a delighted Tom.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
You can tell how delighted they were because they took that picture. And then made me reenact the proposal so they could have video of it to brighten their dark days. 🥰
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
An incomplete list of items I have proposed to my spouse with: A smol pinecone A majestic tree A golden leaf A worm snake An especially rotund acorn A confused salamander Many nice rocks (no gems but several fossils) A shiny fish scale A serpent’s fang
My hands, offering up a young worm snake for admiration in one of my many proposals to my spouse. (The snake was then released unharmed back to its rock.)
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
New headcanon: Tom is wise in the ways of many mating rituals. His bower? Breathtaking. His rock collection? Superb. His selection of decapitated rodents? FLAWLESS.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
We’ve all seen Tom Holland’s Umbrella. This stuff is powerful magic.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
“*BRO.*” [GTFOH implied.]
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Moqueca (Brazilian coconut and fish stew). I don’t have the right palm oil to hand, half the time I forget the cassava chunks, and I definitely don’t use the right fish. But even inauthentic half-assed moqueca is better than no moqueca, which we ate almost daily when we were in Brazil.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
No lies detected. He did, in fact, count to three. Not to say he *wouldn’t* lie. He def would.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Tbf, he needed to go, and she’s a much more responsible and nuanced monster than he was.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Meanwhile , never ask a striated muscle cell how many nuclei it has. They consider it impolite.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
What if Paris is Gonzo and Menelaus is Rizzo? The chemistry between Gonzo and Camilla is already legendary.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
You would think they like each other 💜. They mostly do, but Miles can be annoying enough that he gets his whiskers chewed on. Without having been there, I 💯 know that he found his buddy and forcibly initiated the cuddle, rather than the other way around.
Two sleeping cats, cuddled with their faces pressed together. The near one is mostly white with a few grey spots and short whiskers. The other one is mostly black with some dashing white splotches. The few whiskers visible on the tuxedo cat are long and luxurious.
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Reader of Entrails @haruspex.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A kind of Walden Pond situation: Vibe. Think thinky thoughts. Enjoy catered meals.
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