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Jack Hruska, Ph.D.

@jhruska.bsky.social
820 followers 1K following 22 posts

Biology Ph.D. graduate from Texas Tech University, Postdoc at the University of Nebraska | global citizen | interests: conservation genomics and evolution, primarily in birds Views do not represent University of Nebraska

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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
You can see the actual Apollo 11 Guidance Computer source code on github! Margaret Hamilton wrote much of this code while overseeing the project. Repo by Chris Garry, code transcription by Ron Burkey. (4/n)
github.com
GitHub - chrislgarry/Apollo-11: Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer (AGC) source code for the command and lunar modules.
Original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer (AGC) source code for the command and lunar modules. - chrislgarry/Apollo-11
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Sarah Hird, PhD @sarahhird.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
That time I put almost all the chipmunk species in the western USA on one map. Did you know there’s 1 species of chipmunk in Asia, 1 in eastern USA & >20 in western USA? (I’m not the crazy one here. The chipmunks are the crazy ones.)
Map of the western USA with 20 overlapping chipmunk species distributions in different colors.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
In the last couple of years, we've seen multiple critical collections (museums, herbaria) close. The IUCN--the global authority on the status of biodiversity--recently published on how important these kinds of facilities are in conservation. Every day, the dead are working to protect the living.
iucn.org
From collections to conservation: the indispensable role of natural history museums
The IUCN Species Survival Commission has published a Position Statement on the vital role of biological collections in biodiversity conservation: a formal acknowledgement that natural history museums,...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Jonathan Eisen @phylogenomics.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Looking for examples of AI being used successfully to aid in conservation biology
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Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 04/10/2026
Every time I think I’ve hit the bottom of my outrage, they find a new pocket…
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
literally in the next 48 hours! be aware!
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Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Remember: Darwin's note of "I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything" was written on Oct 1 (1861). Thus we are free to celebrate Very Poorly And Very Stupid Hatred Day today.
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Alexa Fredston @afredston.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
good morning. I strongly suspect that we don't really know (or agree) what geographic ranges are, and therefore, our estimates of how species' ranges are shifting in the Anthropocene are uninterpretable. I wrote something about this: doi.org/10.1111/2041... and I'll share the main findings...
doi.org
Measuring the edges of species' geographic ranges
The fundamental unit of spatial ecology is a species range: the geographical area that it occupies. Species ranges are delineated by range edges (also known as boundaries or limits). Why range edg...
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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Our next step in this project is a bibliography of avian type publications. It's incomplete, but 1120+ refs to 210+ collections is a good starting point! Searchable by institution, country, city. albnd.github.io/bird_types/ #Ornithology #Taxonomy
albnd.github.io
Bird Type Specimen Bibliography — Directory of Collections
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João Menezes @jocateme.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Our new paper on bird vocal amplitude is out in @sse-evolution.bsky.social ! Across 123 species, we found two new contenders for world’s loudest bird: bare-throated bellbird and seriema Along with the white bellbird, both can reach jackhammer-level amplitudes! doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag153
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Center for Large Landscape Conservation @largelandscapes.org · 28/09/2026
The largest wildlife overpass in North America was completed in 2025 spanning I-25 in CO. According to Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the crossing, and nearby crossing infrastructure, has reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions on the stretch of I-25 by 91%. www.denvergazette.com/outtherecolo...
denvergazette.com
Massive wildlife overpass has helped reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by 91% in Colorado
In December 2025, it was announced that the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) had completed the construction of the I-25 wildlife overpass in the area of Greenland, between Denver and Color...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I wrote a bit about the two university museums slated for closure. There is *still* time to do something about each! 🧪🦖
coastalpaleo.blogspot.com
A tale of two university museums: there is still time to save the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Sternberg Museum
September 2026 has been a pretty dispiriting month for American paleontologists. In early September, Drexel University gave a surprise annou...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Rajendhran Rajakumar @rajeerajakumar.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #Ants #Genomics 🐜
science.org
Transposable elements as evolutionary catalysts of ant macrodiversity
Transposable elements (TEs) are key contributors to genome evolution, yet their macroevolutionary roles in adaptive radiations remain poorly understood, as high-quality genomic resources at sufficient...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Sara Lipshutz (she/her) @jacanamama.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Super excited to share this study by @gamaevo.bsky.social in collaboration with Steve Nowicki and Susan Peters!! Response to geographic song variation predicts differential gene expression in the blood of a songbird: iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
cell.com
Response to geographic song variation predicts differential gene expression in the blood of a songbird
Behavioral neuroscience; Ecology; Transcriptomics
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Ricardo J Pereira @biodiversitysmns.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Island species 🏝️ frequently experience founder events and population bottlenecks 🧬 and are often subject to disturbances that further reduce population sizes. Despite these challenges, some island lineages persist for millennia 🕰️ —the paradox of persistence. Here’s what we learned about it:
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Steph' Thorpe @stephbirdart.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A commission piece I did of the White-throated Needletail that was on the east coast last year. A3 watercolour and graphite #UKbirding #birds #birdart #sciart
Set of illustrations in watercolour and graphite of a White-throated Needletail Swift. They show various poses.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What's behind this tidal wave of epidemics? In the largest study ever conducted on emerging infectious diseases, we show that the popular explanation - "our relationship with nature is out of balance" - doesn't hold up. Out now in Nature, after half a decade of work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases - Nature
Emerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data ...
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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New review of what we know and don't know about the evolutionary history of birds and their close fossil relatives! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🪶🧪 (📷Benito & @lizzysteell.bsky.social)
Diagram showing the evolutionary relationships and geologic ages of birds and closely related bird-like dinosaurs.
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Silas Tittes @silastittes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’m excited for Jordan Rodriguez’s paper and software, This Must Be the Place and EcoLocator! She uses global prediction of location and climate of origin to identify loci with signatures of local adaptation. Also applies to Doug Fir data. Feedback welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
This must be the place: deep learning local adaptation
Climate change is increasingly disrupting the relationship between locally adapted populations and the environments in which they evolved, creating an urgent need for tools that connect genomic variat...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
* VIRGINIA GOVERNOR SAYS STATE IS BANNING NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS FOR DATA CENTERS, REQUIRING STRICTER PERMITTING AND CLEAN ENERGY MANDATES FOR THE SERVER WAREHOUSES @reuters.com
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Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
We’re probably going to breach the 1.5 C climate target. So, now what? Here’s my take… drawdown.org/insights/wer...
drawdown.org
We're going to miss the 1.5°C climate target. Now what?
The United Nations Environment Program released a report earlier this month saying the world – which is already experiencing roughly 1.3˚C of warming – will miss the 1.5˚C climate change target set by...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
government efficiency www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/u...
nytimes.com
Federal Employees Were Paid $9.5 Billion Not to Work in 2025 Under DOGE Effort
As part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s program to shrink the federal work force, paid administrative leave costs rose by 435 percent.
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Gabby Palomo, PhD @gabspalomo.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Also, on a personal note, I set myself a goal a few years ago where I wanted to publish a paper with only women and I got it!! Don't you just love when you set a goal for yourself and then you actually accomplish it? Best feeling ever. These scientists are amazing and I learned SO MUCH from them.
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
☆ astrapionté ☆ @astrapionte.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
⭑ Asian Paleofauna ⭑ Pleistocene Edition ⭑ 🧵 #paleoart
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Climate Central @climatecentral.org · 15/09/2026
Temperatures made at least three times more likely by human-caused climate change are projected to affect approximately 580,000 square miles – an area more than double the size of Texas! Read the alert from #ClimateCentral⤵️
climatecentral.org
Climate Shift Index Alerts | Climate Central
Climate Central issues alerts in many instances when the Climate Shift Index identifies a notable extreme weather event around the world that was made more likely by human-caused climate change.
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 12/09/2026
More than 300 million birds are expected to soar across the U.S. on Saturday during their annual fall migration, prompting requests for residents to turn off or dim lights to help ensure their safe flight.
nyti.ms
As Millions of Birds Migrate, Residents Are Asked to Turn Off the Lights
Birds are drawn to lights, and more than a billion die each year after crashing into buildings, experts said.
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Alexis Stamatakis @stamatak.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The RAxML-NG v2.0 preprint is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... v2.0 features integrated model testing, fast branch support metrics, automatic parallelization, phylogenetic difficulty prediction, genotype evolution models, to name but the most important features. And it is A LOT FASTER of course
biorxiv.org
RAxML-NG 2: Automatic model selection, novel tree search heuristics, and fast branch support metrics
RAxML-NG is a widely used tool for maximum likelihood based phylogenetic inference. In the seven years since the last RAxML-NG publication, we have continuously improved and extended the code. Here, w...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Carlos Scheidegger @cscheid.net · 10/09/2026
quarto-hub is really coming together, y'all! I'm so excited to share some of this with you at conf next week. Check out our upcoming collaborative wysiwyg editor working on a fully-styled Quarto 2 page:
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Ultimately, this letter from NSF is an announcement that universities will be funded a lot less and politically-connected industry will be funded a lot more. Fancy words around old-fashioned corruption.
nsf.gov
NSF leadership in a new golden age of science
The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Jenny M. @littletig2.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Thoughts go out to Kaua'i this week. These are Smol Borbs - Kaua'i edition. The 'anianiau, 'akeke'e and 'akikiki are only found on the island of Kaua'i. 'Akikiki may have gone extinct in the wild. The others are critically endangered. The storm was bad :( #birdart #sciart #WildlifeArt #NatureArt
3 very small needle felted birds found on Kaua'i. Yellow 'anianiau, green and yelliw 'akeke'e, and gray 'Akikiki with darker gray on the head and back.
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Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
GOOD NEWS! Phase I clinical trial results out of Johns Hopkins show a first-of-its-kind vaccine designed to target common KRAS mutations was safe AND stimulated KRAS-specific T-cell responses in 90% of study participants who were at HIGH risk of developing pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
insideprecisionmedicine.com
Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Triggers Immune Response Before Tumors Develop
Phase I results show early promise for a vaccine designed to prevent pancreatic cancer in people at high risk of developing the disease.
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Laura Bertola @lauradbertola.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
FRAME: Fine-Resolution Asymmetric Migration Estimation www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
FRAME: Fine-Resolution Asymmetric Migration Estimation - Nature Communications
Understanding spatially varying patterns of asymmetric gene flow is essential for deciphering complex population structures. This study introduces FRAME, a penalized likelihood framework for estimatin...
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Reposted by Jack Hruska, Ph.D.
Lauren Hennelly @laurenhennelly.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Hi Everyone! I am hiring a 2 year Postdoctoral Research Associate in Evolutionary and Conservation Genomics at my lab at Rice University! You can read more about the position here: emdz.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... Please reach out with any questions!
emdz.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com
Postdoctoral Associate - BioSciences
The Hennelly Lab is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Associate in evolutionary and population genomics in mammalian systems. The project will involve analyzing genomic data from modern and historical/an...
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Wildlife Conservation Society @wcs.org · 08/09/2026
Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market? “It’s changed a lot in the past two years,” WCS’s Scott Roberton tells @gloriadickie.bsky.social. “The volume is greater. The diversity of species is greater.” 🌎 news.mongabay.com/2026/09/why-...
news.mongabay.com
Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market?
BANGKOK, Thailand — In the narrow alleys of Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market, the world’s wildlife is for sale. Ensnared in jungles, fished out of rivers and plucked from wetlands across the globe, hundreds...
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Dr Hannah M. Rowland @hannahmrowland.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
We just released a new open resource for studying evolution, ecology, colour, behaviour & biodiversity. OzButterflies 🦋 ✨ 4,000+ individuals 🌈 Visible + UV images 🧬 CO1 barcodes 📈 Spectral reflectance data 🏞️ 125 species doi.org/10.1093/data... @mherberstein.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social
examples of database images. (B) Disassembled RGB. (C) Disassembled UV. (D) Pinned dorsal RGB. (E) Pinned dorsal UV. (F) Pinned ventral RGB. (G) Pinned ventral UV.
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Benjamin Freeman @benjaminfreeman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
whoa!!! this is a MAJOR paper
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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Live look at someone announcing their NIH NOA on Blüski…and colleague.
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
NSF just announced its GRFP solicitation due in October - deadline varies by field: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... Now for the bad news... * NSF estimates they will issue 1,500 awards, down from 2,500+ last year. * NSF removed STEM Education and Learning Research as a Major Field.
nsf.gov
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The flood in Nepal shows us why the claim we can just "adapt" to #ClimateChange is so dishonest (or foolhardy): climate change will break and remake our places so we cannot live in them safely, often with sudden and overwhelming violence. There is no such thing as bouncing back.
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Shikhara Bhat @shikharabhat.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The doomscrolling journey is long and full of terrors. Here, have a stream-dwelling torrent toad (Ghatophryne ornata) and a (land+tree)-dwelling snail (Indrella ampulla). Both brightly coloured, and I don't think anybody knows why! Both are endemic to the western ghat rainforests of southern India.
Picture of Ghatophryne ornata, a torrent toad endemic to the central western ghats rainforests in India. The genus Ghatophryne consists of two species, both endemic to the ghats.Picture of Indrella ampulla, a terrestrial snail endemic to the western ghats rainforests in India. The genus Indrella is monotypic.
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Brynn Paulsen, PhD @brynnpaulsen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
NSF's proposal conforms to OMB proposed requirements like grant approval by political appointees (superseding experts), bans on international collabs, & restricted comms. Help us fight back against the NSF Proposal below 👇
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Hey folks, this hasn’t gotten much attention, but remember those proposed OMB rule changes we all commented on recently? There’s a new attempt to sneak them just for NSF. We have three days to comment. Please don’t sleep on this!
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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
New paper in @bou.org.uk's Ibis: there is still no comprehensive database of bird type specimens. Many major collections have no published type catalogue at all. Where they exist, they're often print-only, partial, or decades out of date. 🧵
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Anya Auerbach @aauerbach.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This semester I'm designing a freshman seminar I've titled "Evolution and Society". Post-defense I'm now working on course planning details, & have both too many ideas & worry what I'm neglecting.. What would you consider an essential topic(s) or reading(s) for a class like this? Please do share!
Image of the course description, which reads: Our society has been shaped by evolutionary ideas. Learning about evolution has led people to question human nature, our place in the natural world, and what that means for us as individuals and a society. Through reading, discussion, and museum visits, this class will explore how evolutionary study has filled us with wonder and a sense of kindship with all living things, been used to justify some of humanity’s greatest atrocities, and continues to be misused and misunderstood today. With grounding in the logic of evolutionary theory, we will ask how understanding evolution does – or doesn’t – help us understand ourselves. Field trip(s) required.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Scientists will spend months studying superpropulsion in insect pee using high speed video - instead of going to therapy like a normal person. 😉 Fascinating stuff. 🐛⏩🟡🟡🟡
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Aki Vehtari @avehtari.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
All four books I've co-authored are freely available online for non-commercial use: - Bayesian Workflow at avehtari.github.io/Bayesian-Wor... Links to other three books are in the quoted post 👇 (too many books to fit in one post!)
avehtari.github.io
Bayesian Workflow book: Website – Bayesian Workflow book
Website for the Bayesian Workflow book by Gelman, Vehtari, McElreath, et al. — case studies, code, and exercises in R and Stan.
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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
pop gen folks: i'm putting together the reading list for my 400/600-level pop gen class. what are your must-reads? 🧪
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Ethan Gyllenhaal @ethanofthegulls.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Group project from the @jdmanthey.bsky.social lab that I led is out in Molecular Ecology! We used whole-genome data to understand Pleistocene forest refugia in central Africa in Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, a species found across most forest habitat in the region: doi.org/10.1111/mec.... 🧵
Map showing the study taxon, an olive bird with yellow "whiskers" coming down from its bill, and a map of Africa with three colored points representing West, Central, and East populations.
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Jacob @iacobuscaesar.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
This gorgeous painting by Ustad Mansur from around 1625 shows a dodo (Raphus cucullatus) in the menagerie of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (reigned 1605-1627). It lives rent-free in my head as both an eyewitness painting of the bird and because it looks scary as all hell.
Mughal painting by Ustad Mansur from around 1625 showing birds in the menagerie of Jahangir.  A floral border surrounds a grassy scene.  The birds in the image include, left-to-right and top-to-bottom: the blue-crowned hanging parrot (Loriculus galgulus), the western tragopan (Tragopan melanocephalus), the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus), and the painted sandgrouse (Pterocles indicus).
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 10/08/2026
Such a smart take.
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