Read the full story from Huffington Post.
About 185 million years ago, a plesiosaur met its fate along what is now the Jurassic Coast of England. Over time, the Earth swallowed the creature’s remains and kept them hidden for millennia — until Fossil Daddy, a “queer paleontological father figure on the internet,” found one of its “freaking awesome” bones in 2019.
When I admit I’m not familiar with the extinct species, Daddy — who prefers to use his pseudonym for privacy concerns related to his family — tells me they’re long-necked marine reptiles commonly mistaken for aquatic dinosaurs. The Loch Ness monster is typically depicted as a plesiosaur, he adds.
Educational moments play out like this all the time on Fossil Daddy’s social media posts, but with one major difference: They’re usually accompanied by his sculpted arms and hairy, tattooed chest. (During our video call, he’s covered up with a cozy-looking fleece sweater.) He’s amassed more than 170,000 followers across four platforms, so his teaching style seems to be working. “I get this comment pretty frequently, not verbatim,” Daddy says. “‘The thirst traps brought me in, but the education kept me here.’”
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