Had an awesome time doing work on Taricha granulosa (Rough-skinned Newt) and Taricha torosa (California Newt) last Sunday. Thank you to the ever amazing Kannon Pearson @taricha-rivularis.bsky.social for leading this and having me on to work on this research. The world is an amazing place.

I am doing a Q&A with @skypeascientist.bsky.social tomorrow at 10am PST! RSVP here if you want to interrogate me about newts and their poisons 🦎🐸🧪☠️: givebutter.com/2yhDvr

Newts

With Kannon Pearson

givebutter.com

Drew some owls at the @mvzucb.bsky.social art night! #art #museum #specimen

You need newt squeaks today. Refusing them is not an option.

Kannon Pearson 🏳️‍⚧️@taricha-rivularis.bsky.social · last yr.

It's pretty rare to hear, but newts can vocalize. Listen to this lil guy squeak at me!

It's pretty rare to hear, but newts can vocalize. Listen to this lil guy squeak at me!

At the end of my #JMIH25 presentation, I thanked the Carl Gans Travelling Fellowship for funding my attendance. The auto-generated caption software heard something VERY different ☠️🏳️‍🌈

A rough skinned newt falling off a log. He did Not want to stay for a photo

I drew a desert tortoise shell for the @mvzucb.bsky.social specimen art night! You can see the accession number on some of the scutes and exposed bones #sciart #illustration #art #museum

Some #art for a friend inspired by @mouseguard.bsky.social! They requested a giant mouse barbarian. I based the character on Petter's mouse, a very big species from Madagascar known from just one specimen! I also included an eastern falanouc teeth and skull, tho the species ranges don't rly overlap

A long (5ft) and lovely Sonoran gopher #snake (Pituophis catenifer affinis) that I saw in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument last week! #photography #herpetology

A bit belated, but happy trans day of visibility to those who celebrate! I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to exist and be visible as a trans person in professional, personal, and fieldwork settings. Thought it would be fun to share a pic of each!

Precisely! California newts lay eggs in clusters. They have the texture of crystal boba imo, tho much deadlier! The newt mothers likely transfer some of their toxin into the eggs before laying, which protects the babies until they start accumulating their own after metamorphosis

Héctor@hltorresvera.com · last yr.

And these MUST be their eggs right?

Omg lil babies! These look to me like two California newts (they tend to have eyelids that are lighter than their dorsal color). Rough skinned newts are also found in that pond! And the real tea is that the species are almost impossible to tell apart in the Bay Area, even by herpetologists like me

Héctor@hltorresvera.com · last yr.

Anyways look I found some newts having an intimate moment at the botanical garden! @taricha-rivularis.bsky.social tell me about these little babies please

The newts are lingering at the Japanese Pool along with hundreds (thousands?) of egg clusters, & ICYMI: we've just posted a recent video to our website: Know Your Newts, with Kannon Pearson. Don't miss this fascinating talk: botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/learn/garden...

Know Your Newts - UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

The peaceful waters of the Japanese Pool–a haven for amphibian mating season–also house a deadly surprise!

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

My presentation for the @ucbgarden.bsky.social is online! In it, I talk about deadly coffeepots, intrepid newt journeys, and radical scientific experiments! Here's the link :D www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltty...

Know Your Newts with Kannon Pearson

YouTube video by UC Botanical Garden

youtube.com

MVZ Professor Jim McGuire and Former MVZ Postdoc Simon Scarpetta find that Fiji iguanas are most closely related to the North American desert iguana — evidence of the longest known transoceanic dispersal of any land animal. bit.ly/3DMIAUD

I have been researching #queer herpetologists (and folks who have amphibian & reptile study systems — not everyone likes the label of herpetologist) and have encountered a decent spread of identities. But I have yet to find openly-transfemme professors who study herps. DM me if you have any leads 🥺

My sketches from yesterday’s @mvzucb.bsky.social specimen art night! The theme was #Shrek — look at the lil “shrek ears” on the beaver skull! And a scrub jay to represent the bird that Fiona exploded via singing competition. #sciart #museum #illustration

For #calbiggive we are excited to share profiles of graduate students like PhD Candidate David Tian who says the best thing about working in the MVZ is, “the diversity of organisms, locations, and questions that MVZ members investigate.” To support the MVZ visit mvz.berkeley.edu/supportmvz/

For #calbiggive we are sharing profiles of graduate students like PhD Candidate Emily Bogner who knew she wanted to be a scientist after watching Jurassic Park, “I thought it was so cool you could dig in the dirt and find remains from animals that are no longer alive.”  mvz.berkeley.edu/supportmvz/

For #calbiggive learn about Staff Researcher Ammon Corl “I get to work with scientists at the forefront of their fields. The strong spirit of collaborative research allows everyone to figure out more than had they worked alone.” Support the MVZ at mvz.berkeley.edu/supportmvz/

For #calbiggive graduate studentAnaid Cárdenas-Navarrete, who grew up in Mexico City, shares when she knew she wanted to be a scientist. To support the @mvzucberkeley and students like Anaid visit mvz.berkeley.edu/supportmvz/

Really excited to be involved with organizing this! I sketched a spectacled bear #skull last time. We are ultimately hoping to accession all of the specimen art on Arctos. The theme this week is 💚✨Shrek✨💚, and we will be sketching various swamp creatures! #sciart #art #illustration #museum

Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California-Berkeley@mvzucb.bsky.social · last yr.

For the past few weeks, the MVZ has hosted “Drawing Life after Death,” an informal gathering of MVZ students. Organizers of the event, Kannon Pearson, Isaac Linn and Shelby Medina were inspired by a desire to become more acquainted with the museum’s collections outside of their own specialties.

they put up the mist nets together?

Birder K@birderk.bsky.social · last yr.

When two ornithologists like each other very much…

Taricha rivularis | Mendocino County | March 2025 Still learning macro techniques, but really happy with this shot of my favorite species of newt. #wildlifephotography #wildlife #herpetology #newt #PhotographersOfBlueSky #EastCoastKin #photography #macromonday #macro #california

Reposting out of excitement that @msezrafurman.bsky.social has arrived on bluesky! Her music was the soundtrack of my early transition and informed how I think about self and metamorphosis. I couldn’t help but discuss her song, Body Was Made, in this talk on amphibians and queerness (10:00-12:00)

Kannon Pearson 🏳️‍⚧️@taricha-rivularis.bsky.social · 2y ago

This is a link to an earlier version of the Gay Frogs Talk that I gave at SSAR this summer! www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A7S...

The San Francisco gartersnake - one of the USA's most beautiful and endangered snakes. Many people don't believe a bright blue and red snake can be discreet - but when seen in its habitat you can see how these snakes can evade notice.

2025 EXEC Public Statement — American Society of Ichthyologists and Herptetologists. Another society steps up.

2025 EXEC Public Statement — American Society of Ichthyologists and Herptetologists

On 10 February 2025, the ASIH Executive Committee voted in support of the following statement:

buff.ly

I love science spam mail. Ah yes, my review paper about #toad poisons most certainly qualifies me for an obstetrics conference 😌

Happy Valentine's day from all the lizards who love you from the bottom of their obturator foramina! (lizard hip bones)🦎🧪💚