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John Orcutt

@jdorcutt.bsky.social
432 followers 291 following 48 posts

Northwesterner, paleobiologist, traveler, aspiring comeback trombone artist of the year.

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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
The great buildings of the Ancestral O'odham at Siwañ Wa'a Ki and Se'edav Va'aki survive thanks to the ingenuity and engineering of their builders as well as the desert soil from which they were built. This soil is rich in caliche, from which the O'odham created a durable concrete-like material.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I was in Arizona last weekend, which is a great place to ensconce yourself in the interface between culture and nature. At Taliesin West, an alluvial fan gave Frank Lloyd Wright the gentle hill he wanted for his masterpiece of a home and studio in a land of jagged mountains and flat deserts.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Happy Year pf the Horse from my occasionally equid-focused lab!
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
I tried my hand at a little amateur videography in the Open Sea exhibit at the @orcoastaquarium.bsky.social and really lucked out! (The music is Debussy's 'La Mer,' which I added because the original background audio included other people's conversations, and darned if it doesn't fit perfectly)
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Happy #FossilFriday from the Bonavista Peninsula of Newfoundland, home of several important Ediacaran localities within the fantastic Discovery Global Geopark!
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Longtime wildlife-viewing aspiration achieved (at Port au Choix National Historic Site, Newfoundland)!
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
What does a paleontologist do when they’re on vacation? Go look at fossils! Is it healthy? Probably not, but when a museum does as fantastic a job with their exhibits as the @romtoronto.bsky.social, how could I resist spending part of a long Toronto layover there?
An entire wall of the Royal Ontario Museum occupied by a huge cast of the fossil bed at Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, with dozens of small, frond-like Fractofusus a huge orange and grey slabA fossil of the fern-like Fractofusus on a dark grey slab next to a 3D model of what it might have looked like in lifeThe tiny early mammal Morganucodon, in both fossil and model form, with the skeleton of the early dinosaur Herrerasaurus looming in the backgroundAn enormous, long-necked Barosaurus skeleton in the jagged, angular, and sunlit galleries of the Royal Ontario Museum
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
Always a pleasure to find myself back "home" at the @burkemuseum.bsky.social, especially on #FossilFriday!
Skeletons of Pleistocene megafauna: the giant sloth Megalonyx, the Columbian mammoth, and the saber-toothed cat Smilodon, all mounted on a platform in front of windows with Seattle greenery in the backgroundCast of the fossil of the tiny,  salamander-like temnospondyl amphibian Micropholis next to a yellow and black model of the animal in life
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Denisovan was a man. I mean, he was a Dragon Man.
nature.com
First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like
Ancient proteins and calcified dental plaque identify heavy-browed fossil from China as a Denisovan.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
A few glimpses of a Salish Sea spring before jetting off to an African savanna winter (taken at Seattle's Ballard Locks and the Anacortes ferry terminal)
Pink and white clover blooms in the lawn above the Ballard LocksTwo wild roses, each a different shade of pink, against a background of green leavesA wild rose with a glimpse of Fidalgo Island shoreline in the background
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Morphology & Ecology Across Time Lab @meatlabpaleo.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
As of this #FossilFriday, I'm officially hosting a symposium on Afrotheria at next year's IPC in Cape Town! There's still a lot to work out, but if you work on elephants, sea cows, aardvarks or any of their relatives (and can make it to South Africa) please consider being a part of this session!
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Reposted by John Orcutt
Morphology & Ecology Across Time Lab @meatlabpaleo.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
One of the perks of doing research at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is getting to stroll through the exhibits afterwards. Besides telling a great story about climate change and evolution, they are a textbook example of how great paleoart can elevate a paleontology display.
Fossil display cases in front of colorful murals of life in central Oregon during the Eocene Epoch.Fossil display cases in front of myself depicting the drier, grassier world of the Miocene EpochThe fanged jaws of the cat-like sabertooth PogonodonSkulls of oreodonts, vaguely sheep-like animals that are superabundant in the John Day fossil record
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Morphology & Ecology Across Time Lab @meatlabpaleo.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
The lab is working on describing some carnivores from Oregon's John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, so I had an excuse to run down to one of our planet's more dramatic fossiliferous landscapes (and my old stomping grounds) over our Spring Break.
The pyramidal peak of Sheep Rock, Oregon, with sagebrush in the foreground
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Following up on my earlier announcement of a lab Bluesky page, I wanted to share our first post, which naturally had to feature long-time friend of the lab Teleoceras.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
In the interest of fully divesting from the Tech Bro social media sites, I just started a BlueSky page for my lab! Give us a follow for research updates and news!
bsky.app
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
A weekend trip across the state to visit family culminated in finding myself in the midst of one of the Northwest's greatest natural spectacles.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Ex Africa semper aliquid novi! Egypt's Fayum is an incredible window into a crucial interval in mammalian evolution. Thanks to a team led by researchers at Mansoura University, the Fayum bestiary is now one species larger. Absolutely love the Ancient Egyptian-inspired name Bastetodon!
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Steve Wang @stevewang251.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Just out: My first ever field-based paper in 25+ years in paleo Carbonaceous macrofossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian lower shale member of the Soltanieh formation, NW Iran. Led by Najmeh Etemad-Saeed, w/ Shuhai Xiao, me, Kristin Bergmann, Andy Knoll free URL: authors.elsevier.com/c/1ka1c14fdH...
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Russell Garwood @russellgarwood.co.uk · 31/01/2025
For #FossilFriday may I present to you an amazing scorpion, Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis. It may look like the moult of a modern species, but these are actually ~330 million year old fossils, dissolved out of a rock from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 using acid. ⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky
A black and white photograph of a fossil scorpion, the front towards the right. Y ou can see mouthparts (chelicerae and pedipalps with pincers), four walking legs, and then a body and tail. A colour photograph of a fossil scorpion, this time with the top pointing upwards. It also has nice pedipalps and a good body, but the limbs are a bit more scrappy than the other picture. It does have an impressive sting though. A black and white reconstruction of this super cool fossil species by Jason Dunlop. It's beautifull stippled, and shows the scorpion in dorsal view, with the front upward. It looks a fair bit like a modern scorpion. The man is an amazing artist.
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Dr. Nick Famoso @drfamoso.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
The Turtle Cove assemblage from John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is the theme for this year's #NationalFossilDay poster art! Check out the writeup on the NPS website! www.nps.gov/articles/000...
National Fossil Day poster with green border and scene of prehistoric animals and forest. Text includes, National Fossil Day, Discovery, Science, Prehistoric Life, and October 15, 2025.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
I'm prepping a lecture on the afrotherian paleontology this #FossilFriday, so how could I not share the spectacular reconstruction of Arsinoitherium from the Fayum of Egypt on display at the Natural History Museum, London?
Reconstructed skeleton of the huge, two-horned mammal Arsinoitherium.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Two related things that make me proud of my home town of Seattle: 1) We're a @unesconow.bsky.social City of Literature 2) We have a strong contender for World's Most Beautiful Bookstore in Arundel Books
The tiled floors, Corinthian columns, and vaulted ceiling of Arundel Books
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Sami Mark @samimarkart.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
I designed a sticker to raise money for California wildfire relief - I have been wanting to draw something involving garibaldi fish, and seeing as they’re the state marine fish of California I figured now was a fitting time. Preorder period ends in a week - find all details below #marinelife
sticker design of an orange garibaldi fish swimming in front of kelp.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Last full day on the West Side before heading back to Spokane. Spending it with some surprising sunshine and the Space Age architecture of the Seattle Center (site of the '62 World's Fair).
Paul Horiuchi's colorful, collage style Mural Amphitheater, with the bright white Space Needle against a cloudless blue sky in the backgroundSunlight and shadow on the Gothic-inspired white arches of Minoru Yamasaki's Pacific Science CenterCollonade of the Northwest Rooms with a view of the Space Needle
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
As always, the Olympics made photography easy today.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Maybe the most beautiful place in the world is on the lands of the Makah Nation, where the open Pacific meets the northwestern tip of the US at Cape Flattery.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Not a video, but as a bonus, please enjoy this photo of Lake Crescent and its surrounding peaks.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Next, the now dam-free and (in the right season) salmon-full Elwha River, also in Olympic National Park.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
For so many reasons, things are stressful right now. I've always found the waters of the Olympic Peninsula to be endlessly soothing and refreshing, and I hope these videos bring some of that calm to your feed. First, off, Madison Falls in Olympic National Park.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
While I'm revisiting the highlights of 2024, I'd be remiss to not mention a very recent development that's my biggest personal news of the year: I got tenure!!! I'm thrilled to be able to spend the rest of my career at Gonzaga and in Spokane!
Nighttime in the illuminated US Pavilion, Riverfront Park, SpokaneThe buildings and bridges of Riverfront Park reflected in the dark waters of the Spokane RiverSpokane icons along the edge of RIverfront Park, SpokaneThe Gonzaga footbridge at night, its lights reflected in puddles
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
2024 culture highlights: Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpieces across the Midwest, the glories of porteño architecture in Buenos Aires, the monumental Jesuit missions of the Guaraní in Argentina and Paraguay, and the brightly-colored seaport of Valpairaiso, Chile.
Colorful buildings rising above the streets and harbor of Valparaiso, ChileThe fanciest utilities building you'll ever see, the ornate Palacio de Aguas Corrientes, Buenos AiresThe wooden interior of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesen in Wisconsin, built in conversation with the hills and valleys visible through the windowsThe pulpit of Santísima Trinidad del Paraná, carved with Baroque figures and text in Guaraní
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
2024 nature highlights: there are too many to list, but it's hard to beat seeing flocks of seabirds on the Salish Sea, the diverse ecosystems of Indiana Dunes, the grandeur of Iguazu Falls, and the wildlife of Iberá and Patagonia.
Carnivorous pitcher plants in the bogs behind the line of dunes at Indiana Dunes National ParkThe sun begins to set on a herd of guanacos on the steppes of Patagonia at Península ValdésA rainbow in front of the wall of water that is Iguazú FallsCormorants and a great blue heron on a dock in front of the dense forests and snow-capped peaks of Vancouver Island
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
2024 paleontology highlights: museums from Pittsbugh to St. Paul and South American megafauna on display and in situ in Argentina and Uruguay!
Fossil clam shells in the shadow of the glowing white cliffs of Península Valdés, ArgentinaA glyptodont shell and giant sloth skeleton in the Museo de Colonia, UruguayThe huge ground sloth Megatherium in the ornate galleries of the Museo de la Plata, ArgentinaDippy the Diplodocus, one of the world's most famous and important dinosaur skeletons, in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
2024 research highlights: taking the lab students to the GSA section meeting in Spokane and NAPC in Michigan, hosting the NW Scientific Association at Gonzaga, and collections visits to the great museums of the Midwest!
Sunlight streaming through the skylights of the Stanley Field Hall at Chicago's Field Museum, illuminating dinosaurs, pterosaurs, elephants, and totem poles.Me and two of my students at the end of a successful NAPC in Michigan.Spotting wildlife on the NWSA field trip to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.My student presenting his poster on carnivorous mammal fossils at the GSA section meeting in Spokane
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Happy Holidays from the shore of the Salish Sea! To celebrate the new year, here are some of my favorite memories from 2024!
A windblown Douglas fir and craggy rocks in front of the Salish Sea, with the low hills of the San Juan Islands in the background.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
I think we could all use a sea otter in our feeds this #MarineLifeMonday. Famous for the role they play in maintaining kelp forests, they are equally at home in - and equally important members of - the West Coast's other cradles of biodiversity: eelgrass beds, like these in Morro Bay, California.
A sea otter floating on a bed of eelgrass, with its hands folded over its eyesA sea otter looking around at its eelgrass bed habitat
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
It's been a long #FossilFriday and I'm in no state to say anything profound, so please enjoy, with minimal comment, this photo of Miocene rhinoceros and Friend of the Lab, Teleoceras! (Photo taken in the Carnegie Museum)
The barrel-chested, short-legged skeleton of the fossil rhino Teleoceras
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
And because it's also #MuseumMonday, here's a southern elephants seal (and some cetacean companions) in the beautiful zoology galleries of Argentina's Museo de la Plata.
Skeleton of a huge adult male elephant seal in the Museo de la PlataMammals of sea and land amidst architecture from La Plata's glory days
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Is #MarineLifeMonday a thing here on Bluesky? If not, my argument for why it should be is that it gives us all a chance to nerd out about species like the world's largest carnivoran, the southern elephant seal (elefante marino in Spanish), seen here on Península Valdés, Argentina.
Skull of a southern elephant seal on display in the midst of Patagonian scrubland on Península Valdés, ArgentinaResting southern elephants seals on the shores of Península Valdés, ArgentinaSouthern elephant seals resting where cobble beach meets rocky shore on Península Valdés, ArgentinaAn enormous (though still young!) male elephant seal, illustrating just how big carnivorans can get, Península Valdés, Argentina
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
And for the smaller subset of you that are also @unesconow.bsky.social World Heritage nerds, besides Messel, the same valley is also home to the Medieval abbey of Lorsch and the Jungendstil (Art Nouveau) architecture of Matildenhöhe.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
For my fellow museum and paleontology nerds, the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt also has some incredible non-Messel fossils, including an entire rudist reef, a famous mastodon, and a diversity of Cenozoic mammals from across Europe.
A fossil rudist clam reefAn American mastodon in DarmstadtCenozoic marine mammals and fish from GermanyGreek fossil mammals in Darmstadt
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
This #FossilFriday I'm flashing back to the epic day a decade ago when I visited one of our planet's great lagerstätten, the @unesconow.bsky.social World Heritage Site Grube Messel. As a bonus, I also got to see the amazing fossil halls at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt!
The surreal, angular fossil gallery at Grube MesselOverview of the pit mine at Grube MesselFossil reptiles from Messel at the Hessisches Landesmuseum DarmstadtFossil mammals from Messel at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 12/06/2024
There are many things to love about the Carnegie Museum, but one of my favorites is the collection of half-fleshed-out fossil mammal sculptures.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 12/06/2024
The sun sets on the first of twenty days of road-tripping, collection-visiting, and conference-attending across the Great Lakes states.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 15/05/2024
What do these images have in common? They all appear on posters that lab students will be presenting today at the GSA meeting in Spokane! If you're here, swing by between 4 and 5:30 to hear about their research! Art: Charles R. Knight Ringtail photo: American Society of Mammalogists
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 17/04/2024
4 & 3) Two big anniversaries! A century ago, J Harlen Bretz introduced the world to what he called the Spokane (Missoula) Floods; 50 years ago Spokane hosted the environment-themed Expo '74. Come celebrate both events with NWSA and explore their legacies at Riverfront Park!
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 17/04/2024
Paleontology/mammalogy/taxonomy colleagues! Does anyone have a complete citation (or, in a perfect world, a PDF) for Nordmann, 1850, the paper in which the Tribe Camelini was named? I have spent many frustrating hours trying to track it down and am at my wit's end!
Camels in Souq Waqif, Doha, Qatar
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 15/04/2024
6 & 5) Our field trip destinations! Following the meeting, attendees will have the opportunity to visit either of two local biodiversity hotspots: Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge and Mount Spokane. www.northwestscience.org/nwsa-2024-an...
Wildflowers in a field at Turnbull National Wildlife RefugeThe view from Mount Spokane
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 14/04/2024
7) The Falls! The waterfalls that gave Spokane its name, that mark an inflection point in the regional landscape, and that have been a gathering point since time immemorial are often near peak flow in May.
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John Orcutt @jdorcutt.bsky.social · 12/04/2024
8) Spring flora and fauna! May is the best month to appreciate the lilacs that gave Spokane its nickname, wildflowers of all shapes and colors (like these Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area arrowleaf balsamroot), and mammals like the iconic marmots of the Gonzaga campus!
A glorious marmot framed by yellow flowersYellow arrowleaf balsamroot above the pine woodlands of Lake RooseveltLilac bloom in a Lilac City park
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