Researchers have found a bizarre new way to keep decades of wildlife research alive after funding cuts, launching an OnlyFans account dedicated entirely to adorable marmots.
For more than 60 years, scientists have been studying yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, helping uncover everything from their social behavior to how climate change affects wild populations.
But with research funding becoming increasingly difficult to secure, the team has decided to try something a little more unconventional – start an OnlyFans page for the animals, with supporters invited to leave tips to help fund the research.
Scientists launch ‘OnlyMarms’ after funding cuts
Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory have been studying yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) at a field station in the Rocky Mountains near Crested Butte, Colorado, since 1962. The animals in question are one of 15 marmot species, a group of adorable cat-sized creatures scattered throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
Announcing the account on Instagram, the team joked that “The state of funding is so bad we are turning to OnlyFans, or as we like to call it ‘OnlyMarms‘.”
The account itself describes itself as offering “Unfiltered yellow-bellied marmot content from the Rockies,” though anyone expecting something more risqué will be gravely disappointed.
“[It’s] almost all G-rated content of marmots playing, being cute, digging, bringing plants to their burrows…normal routine stuff for marmots,” Daniel Blumstein, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA who leads the project, told Live Science, though he ensured that “the occasional scuffle makes it PG rated.”
The idea itself came during one particularly quiet day in the field: “I spend a lot of time waiting for marmots to do things and had the idea one slow morning,” explained Blumstein. “When I came back with this idea, one of my graduate students immediately said we MUST do this! So here we are!”
However, rather than charging for access, the researchers are offering free subscriptions and simply asking supporters to leave optional tips to help keep the project running, with promises for a few marmot pup videos in the near future, giving subscribers even more wholesome content while helping fund an important wildlife study.
