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Funding has always been a challenge for Daniel Blumstein’s long-term study of yellow-bellied marmots, more so, he tells CBC News, since the Trump administration started defunding some environmental research.
So when he watched the Apple TV comedy Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Blumstein could relate and was inspired by the protagonist’s decision to turn to digital sex work to avoid financial ruin.
“What about OnlyFans?” he recalled asking, thinking of all the “hysterical” videos his lab has of the loaf-like rodents. “Why don’t we share them … and maybe people will give us tips?”
One of his graduate students at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado was on board with the idea, and pretty soon created an OnlyFans account called “OnlyMarms.”
OnlyFans is a subscription-based platform best known for sexually explicit videos and images. But Blumstein is clear: OnlyMarms is a G-rated project.
“We’re not trying to sexualize marmots. Although I was just at an international conference and three people came up to me and said, ‘Oh, you have to have more pictures of Marmot feet,'” he said.
“Apparently people like to look at the feet of animals.”
Every Monday and Friday since June, his team posts new and often funny images of an individual marmot, and its bio.
Marmots hibernate, and need to pack on body mass before winter. So naturally, the team of researchers are doing a “Fat Marmot Week” — encouraging the public to vote in a bracket-style tournament similar to the “Fat Bear Week” at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Fat Marmot Week is slated to begin Aug. 24 and might feature a collaboration with some Canadian critters from the conservationist group Vancouver Island Marmots.
Body positivity
Blumstein’s lab specifically studies yellow-bellied marmots, including how they age and respond to climate change.
Running since 1962, it is the second-longest study of individually identifiable wild mammals, after Jane Goodall’s study of chimpanzees.
When mammals are studied over many generations like that, Blumstein says it can provide valuable insights about aging and epigenetics — how environmental factors affect the way certain genes work.
“Hibernators live longer than would be expected based on their body size, ” he said. “It maybe is because they’re slowing their epigenetic aging. And we’ve been getting genomic and looking at those questions. “
There are also physiologists who study marmots to learn how you can get obese and not be sick.
“We’re all about body positivity here with our marmots, because doubling or tripling their weight is what they need to do to survive,” Blumstein said.
Blumstein says the kind of research his lab does has long been undervalued, and that his funding applications were repeatedly rejected, even before the Trump administration’s cuts.
The National Park Service, which lost millions in funding, has similarly been getting a lot of attention thanks to dozens of cheeky “OnlyParks” postings on TikTok.
Naomi Boak, a media ranger for Katmai Conservancy, tells CBC News about the moment Chunk was named Fat Bear Week champion, an annual tournament in Katmai National Park, Alaska, celebrating brown bears’ success in preparation for winter hibernation.
When it comes to funding, “the pie’s too small,” Blumstein said. But through a series of collaborators and outside grants, he has managed to keep his marmot study going.
Since June, he says OnlyMarms has raised about $3,000 US, barely enough to make a dent in his funding needs.
“Will this pay for bait? Yes. Will this pay for fixing our bicycles — because we blow through bicycles working out here? Yes. Will this help pay for lab fees and things like that? Absolutely,” but Blumstein says he still needs an additional $75,000 for a new graduate student each year.
And OnlyFans is an imperfect funding model. For starters, it takes a 20 per cent commission, and as the account holder, Blumstein is expected to declare that money on his taxes.
What he really wants marmot-lovers to do is donate to UCLA directly to help keep this project alive.
