WaPo owner Jeff Bezos is vain about his physique. But Katharine Graham had bigger gonads & didn't go spineless just because some government jackass threatened to catch "her tit in a wringer." (Image: WSJ)

Good news from the #SouthCarolina outbreak: #measles vaccinations up 162% at the epicenter & 72% statewide. People know #VaccinesWork even if RFK Jr. doesn't. www.npr.org/2026/02/05/n...

Meet your cousins. They are everywhere, and have a hand in almost everything. 🌿🐙📷 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Plenty of potential #bison habitat out there, if we just let them at it. New study from WCS, Panthera Cats, Re: Wild, et al. act-green.org

Cave mummies discovery could lead to restoring one of the most beautiful animals on Earth to lost habitat. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/cave-cheet...

@richardconniff.bsky.social's bizarre life and work of Charles Waterton, pioneer of taxidermy—and let's not forget his bitter feud with John James Audubon over whether North American vultures hunted by sight or smell. Also, you'll never guess what this strange humanoid figure is made from

You may hate hunting but it played a key role 60,000 years ago in shaping the modern human mind. Poison arrows are the clue. richardconniff.substack.com/p/how-huntin...

Hey, @asyousow.bsky.social, you need to get fossilfreefunds.com back online now. It's ridiculous to be upgrading for days or weeks, especially when people are thinking about these investing decisions at the start of the New Year.

Even as they lie about the killing of Renee Good, the Trump White House website is pretending Ashlii Babbit, shot while literally storming Congress, is a martyr. www.whitehouse.gov/j6/?mc_cid=9...

Strange creatures, from an even stranger character in the history of exploration. richardconniff.substack.com/p/slavery-bi...

Reader comment: "Oh what a great read! Bizarre, macabre and also a bit magical, much like taxidermy!" substack.com/home/post/p-...

This pioneering conservationist was deeply complicit in slavery. But he has been admired by naturalists from Darwin to David Attenborough—and by me in my book The Species Seekers, where I also managed to overlook that complicity 🌿🧪🗃️🦉 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Plus a postscript on sharks 🌿

Get your children vaccinated. South Carolina reports 116 measles cases, 27 new cases, and the outbreak is "accelerating." www.yahoo.com/news/article...

#fossils #paleontology

What if mosasaurs, the giant killers in oceans worldwide, also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Here's a terrifying thought for your weekend: What if the giant killer in oceans worldwide also hunted in rivers? open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

If you search for possible gifts using google or even duckduckgo, it feels as if Amazon and Etsy have paid to own every shelf in the store. Is there a search term I can use to avoid them?

Here's one for the naturalist in your family. ""A swashbuckling romp…brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era."--BBC Focus. 🌿 🦑🦊 www.amazon.com/Species-Seek...

Part 2 of the desert rhino story richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...

Is it better to be horned by a charging rhinoceros? Or trampled? A guide tests the question. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-cl...

Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...

Walking with critically-endangered black rhinos in the desert wilderness of northern Namibia. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/getting-to...

Heads up: The details of the Netflix-Warner Bros.deal means CNN will still be at risk of right-wing takeover in the New Year www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/m...

How do you feel about plugging insect parts into machines? Necrobotics—Yes or No? 🌿 substack.com/home/post/p-...

Here's the great white shark of the jellyfish world. And other strangely elegant creatures made from snot. An 11-minute read for your weekend. (Photo: George Matsumoto/MBARI) richardconniff.substack.com/p/jelly-bell...

Here's the wrap on my three-part series on spider webs. Read on to learn how the insects take their terrible revenge. 🌿 open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Here's the conclusion of my three-part series on spider webs. Read on to learn how the insects take their terrible revenge. 🌿https://open.substack.com/pub/richardconniff/p/a-spiders-life-hanging-its-butt-in?r=1fcr4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The better to understand how spiders live, I set out, on a climbing wall, to weave my own web. open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

In their heyday, magazines often paid me to do strange things. Building my own spider web was one of the strangest. 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/oh-what-a-...

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Been to the Serengeti. Explored in the Amazon. Trekked in Bhutan. But watching spiders has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life as a naturalist. richardconniff.substack.com/p/spider-web...

You may be a policeman still angry that Trump freed Jan 6 rioters who battered cops, or a coal miner pissed that Trump has blocked regulations to protect you from black lung disease ... If you believe in America, it's your march, too. richardconniff.substack.com/p/heres-why-...

A reminder of the many patriotic reasons you should join today's "No Kings" protests richardconniff.substack.com/p/heres-why-...

A few reminders why you should join today’s protests against tyranny open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

ICYMI: “And now, a response from the leader of the frog resistance...” 🐸 🎵 #Colbert

Federal agents in Portland, OR, blocked an ambulance trying to take an injured protestor to the hospital & threatened to shoot the driver www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...

Stop buying wildlife pets—turtles, parrots, lizards, ferrets, even tropical fish—until the global pet industry gets serious about protecting and rebuilding species and habitats. richardconniff.substack.com/p/the-wildli...

Big news! @IUCN members approve Motion 108 to set guardrails on the global wildlife pet trade. open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

It's never been legal to export Galapagos iguanas from Ecuador. But pet dealers still sell them "legally" in Europe. Time to crack down on the wildlife pet trade. richardconniff.substack.com/p/the-wildli...

Some bats hunt and eat migrating songbirds at high altitude 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/tally-ho-e...

IUCN will likely vote Monday to set guardrails for the wildlife pet trade. Originally just for terrestrial wildlife but now extended to ALL wildlife. open.substack.com/pub/richardc...

Halfway in, it dawned on me that this is a Halloween story. I’d never previously thought of the world’s top science journals scheduling articles for a publicity boost from seasonal holidays. But, hey, Science, you got me! 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/tally-ho-e...

Some bats hunt and eat migrating songbirds at high altitude 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/tally-ho-e...

Halfway in, it dawned on me that this is a Halloween story. I’d never previously thought of the world’s top science journals scheduling articles for a publicity boost from seasonal holidays. But, hey, Science, you got me! 🌿 richardconniff.substack.com/p/tally-ho-e...

Hey, #Connecticut residents, you can find your #vaccination record since 2020 here: ctwizpublicportal.dph.ct.gov

The shsssssssh-shsssssssh of boots walking through fallen leaves in the Connecticut woods

Cartoon by @mluckovich.bsky.social.

It's never been legal to export Galapagos iguanas from Ecuador. But pet dealers still sell them "legally" in Europe. Time to crack down on the wildlife pet trade. richardconniff.substack.com/p/the-wildli...

The IUCN will consider the wildlife pet trade at its meeting next week in Abu Dhabi. Time to act on a wildlife pet trade that's gone off the rails. 🌿