Researchers set up an Onlyfans account for marmots

In the United States funding for science has been cut so much that researchers have had to set up an Onlyfans account due to their lack of money. However, they don’t appear there themselves. Content producing marmots.

Onlyfans is therefore a video site on the internet known especially for adult entertainment. Even some Finnish public figures have said that they earn huge sums there with their videos.

Researchers and the marmots’ Onlyfans content suddenly sounds quite wild as an idea, but it’s not about material forbidden to children.

The service publishes quite ordinary videos everywhere. There is, for example, cooking and music.

So the researchers describe the furry rodents in their everyday activities. They play, dig tunnels, gnaw nuts and rustle with each other. The account name is Onlymarms. Marmot is marmot in English.

Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Daniel Blumstein tells LiveScience-web magazine that he got the idea one morning when he was following his marmots.

“One of my students was then of the opinion that this must definitely be implemented.”

Blumstein manages the Kallivuorti biological research station, where yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) life since the 1960s.

Unfortunately, marmot research is not a particularly sexy discipline when scarce public funding is distributed. Still, valuable scientific content has been produced at Kallivuorti station for 65 years. It is the world’s second longest continuous mammal monitoring project.

Researchers don’t make much money on their account, especially when they share content for free. It is just a new way of getting more publicity for research.

Yellow-bellied marmots can live up to 15 years. For food, they gnaw various plants.

Now on Monday, the station and probably also on the Onlymarms account will start “Paksun marmelin’s week”. Researchers are watching how the marmots accumulate mass for the winter season. Followers can vote for their favorite marmot.