What’s it like being an ecologist? Science twitter has the answer with the latest hashtag, #ecologistsconfessions. Like #fieldworkfails and #bestfieldworkpic, scientists are using the hashtag to talk about their best blunders, embarrassments, and dirty little secrets that come with doing science for real.
It started with ecologist Meghan Duffy.
This @hormiga post & my older post (linked in Terry's) make me think we should have an #ecologistconfessions hashtag https://t.co/j275ZIdmdN
— Meghan Duffy (@duffy_ma) March 29, 2016
In no time at all, the hashtag took off. Many of the tweets focused on realities of working in the field and studying flora and fauna.
I have intentionally eaten a large number of my focal species #ecologistconfessions
— Dr Alex Bond (@TheLabAndField) March 29, 2016
I can probably identify more Pokemon than actual, real-life animals. #ecologistconfessions
— asia murphy phd (river to the sea) (@am_anatiala) March 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/Rob0Sullivan/status/714834289062518785
We all pee in our wetsuits. #EcologistConfessions
— Dr. Hellbender (@HellbenderHecht) March 29, 2016
I've had at least 4 different bird species poop in my mouth while extracting them from nets. No variation in flavour. #ecologistconfessions
— Dr Anthony Caravaggi (@thonoir) March 29, 2016
Almost bumped into wild mtn lion + cub in CA backcountry. May have peed a little. #ecologistconfessions
— Imogene Cancellare, PhD (@biologistimo) March 29, 2016
Some talked about living up to family expectations
#ecologistconfessions when friends and family ask me about animals other than my study species, I often covertly and quickly Google it.
— Molly Albecker (@molly_albecker) March 29, 2016
My grandmother still thinks I’m an ONcologist . . . haven’t got the heart to tell her #ecologistconfessions
— The Ferrari Lab: @TheFerrariLab.bsky.social (@TheFerrariLab) March 29, 2016
But others talked about true love.
My spouse once fell in a sewage pond while helping me get closer to a shorebird. #ecologistconfessions
— Kyle Elliott (@ArcticEcology) March 29, 2016
The hashtag is still updating with new stories. Check it out.
Illustration via Max Fleishman