Scientists behind one of the world's longest-running wildlife studies have turned to one corner of internet culture for funding—and found another waiting for them.
Researchers at UCLA launched an OnlyFans account called OnlyMarms to help support a project that has tracked yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado since 1962 after traditional research funding became harder to secure.
The idea came to professor Daniel Blumstein as research funding dwindled. A graduate student dubbed the account "OnlyMarms," and the team leaned into the joke by promising subscribers "uncensored marmot content." Blumstein said it has also become a way to reach new audiences.
The account has generated about $4,000 so far. Blumstein said the project ultimately needs between $75,000 and $100,000 a year to support graduate students and fieldwork, funding that federal grants once provided.
The marmot project has also attracted attention from the crypto community.
“People have independently created a meme coin and told us to grab the transaction—to register it, and then we get the transaction fees. And that is blowing up,” he said. “Apparently, this is a meme coin for good that people like.”
It wouldn't be the first time an internet-famous animal inspired a cryptocurrency.
Blumstein said the situation reflects the state of scientific funding in the United States, noting that raising money through platforms like OnlyFans is a far cry from how research projects were funded when he was in graduate school.
“No. It's appalling,” he said. “What we're doing is destroying the scientific structure and the university-federal partnerships that made us great, made us rich, made us the scientific leaders of the world. It's being taken apart, and that's really sad.”
