Marmots on OnlyFans to fund research

Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles have opened a profile on OnlyFans. It is called «OnlyMarms» and is devoted to the yellow-bellied marmots of the Rocky Mountains.

The material published concerns the animals' daily life. The footage shows them eating, sleeping, running and defending their territory.

The purpose is to raise funds for a scientific study on how marmots are adapting to climate change. The research has been running since the 1960s and belongs to the category of long-term observation projects.

A question of platform

Professor Daniel Blumstein, a specialist in ecology and evolutionary biology, has clarified the nature of the project. The content is suitable for everyone and involves no sexualisation whatsoever.

The platform chosen is normally associated with paid content of a different kind. It is precisely that contrast which makes the initiative visible and serves its second aim, namely drawing attention to the funding difficulties facing scientific research.

The income raised so far remains modest. The financial result is therefore not the most significant part of the exercise.

The case was reported by the New York Times.

The initiative highlights a problem affecting ecological studies in general. Long-term projects yield results that can only be appreciated after decades, whereas research funding cycles are usually shorter.

The profile nonetheless remains a marginal channel compared with public grants and foundations, which remain the main sources.

A study running for more than sixty years produces data series that are hard to obtain any other way. Measuring how a species adapts requires repeated observations in the same places and of the same populations, and an interruption in funding means losing continuity, not merely a year of work.