A team of UCLA scientists have resorted to posting content on OnlyFans to raise funds for research cuts in federal funding For American science. But the videos are not of themselves, they are special recordings of the marmots.
“I spend a lot of time waiting for the marmots to work and one slow morning I came up with this idea,” Daniel Blumsteina professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA who leads the project, told Live Science in an email. “When I came back with this idea, one of my graduate students immediately said we must do this! So here we are!”
Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) are studying yellow-bellied marmots (marmota flaviventer) since 1962 at a field station in the Rocky Mountains near Crested Butte, Colorado. “The RMBL marmot study is the second oldest continuing study of individually marked mammals in the world,” Blumstein said. “We have up to 65 years of data on population dynamics, social and anti-predator behavior and ask lots of questions about how animals respond to changing environments.”
yellow bellied marmot One of 15 marmot species, a group of cat-sized ground squirrels that can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. This particular species is widely distributed in the Rocky Mountains and many mountain ranges of California. The species lives in social groups and is active during the day, making them a great subject for long-term behavioral studies.
“Long-term research like ours is very valuable for understanding how and why things change over time, and our project has been very productive,” Blumstein said.
However, collecting data over such a long period of time comes with a significant price. And with cuts to federal funding decimating research budgets across the country, Blumstein and his team have had to look for other ways to fund their research. Enter only marms.
On June 17, RMBL Marmot Project Announced on Instagram That “the funding situation is so bad that we’re turning to OnlyFans, or as we like to call it, ‘OnlyMars’.”
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As federal funding cuts deplete research budgets across the country, Blumstein and his team have had to look for other ways to fund their research.
(Image credit: Daniel T. Blumstein, professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the UCLA Institute for Environment and Sustainability)
OnlyFans is a subscription platform that allows users to pay creators to view exclusive photos and videos. The platform has become popular not only among adult content creators, but it hosts others too, including musicians, athletes and celebrities – and now even marmots.
“We are making this effort out of frustration with a very challenging funding environment,” Blumstein said. “If we’re lucky, it could help raise funds for supplies and some expenses. But unless we’re very lucky, it won’t replace the federal funding that has driven exploration in the US since the 1950s.”
However, for anyone expecting spicy marmot content, you may be a little disappointed. “[It’s] Almost all the G-rated stuff about marmots playing, being cute, digging, bringing plants into their burrows…are normal routine things for marmots, Blumstein said. The occasional mayhem makes it rated PG.
Emily RankinJoe also works on the project, said the team hopes to add videos of marmot pups soon.
“Our ‘OnlyMarms’ page has gotten quite a bit of activity since we launched it a month ago,” Rankin told Live Science. “We’ve had 735 page visits and we have 44 fans.”
But how much is OnlyMarx actually able to raise? “Not much,” Blumstein said. “We are giving people free membership and asking for suggestions. They [OnlyFans] Take 20% and I have to pay tax on the rest.”
Nevertheless, the team hopes that the page is helping to increase public engagement and interest in the project. “Overall I think this could be a wonderful way to teach people more about the social behavior of animals, which can sometimes be difficult to observe,” Rankin said. “We’re even learning more about marmots through these close-up glimpses provided by game cameras.”
Although it is difficult to obtain signed consent from the marmots to use this material online, Blumstein said the funds raised will be used to help protect the creatures in a rapidly changing world. “We are using these funds to help continue studies that provide valuable information about them and how they are responding to climate change,” he said.
The OnlyFans account is just one way the team has attempted to share their research with new audiences. “We work hard to communicate our research findings to the public,” Blumstein said. “Our laboratory is running Fat Marmot Week Contest in this summer. We’re hoping this will help people learn more about these fascinating alpine critters!”