Lana J. Pratt
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lanajpratt.bsky.social
Lana J. Pratt
@lanajpratt.bsky.social
47 followers 90 following 39 posts
prolly talkin shit about a pretty sunset

https://czdp.miraheze.org/
https://academiccryptozoology.blogspot.com/
[email protected]
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lanajpratt.bsky.social
Lana J. Pratt @lanajpratt.bsky.social · Jul 27
(Re)Introducing myself here

My name is Lana, I’m currently an independent researcher and science educator, hoping to pursue an academic career in ethnozoology. I’m heavily interested in cryptozoology, which is what you’ll see me post about most frequently
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
himarudolf.bsky.social
Temnodontosaurus
September 16, 2026 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
:)
September 16, 2026 at 1:30 PM
lanajpratt.bsky.social
Excellent new article by Timothy Grieve-Carlson, "'Beast or Human Being?' Monstrous Humanoids in Early American Religion", in Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, Vol. 15 no. 2 (2026): 310–333.

doi.org/10.5325/pret...
Crossref
Choose from multiple link options via Crossref
doi.org
September 16, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
reptiledude.bsky.social
People should seriously visit the Academy of Natural Sciences while they can. If you are in or near Philly and have time, see it before it’s gone. Also if you think it would be beneficial for it to remain open write Governor @joshshapiropa.bsky.social, Mayor @cherelleparker.bsky.social & Drexel BoS
The skull of Herrarasaurus, a very early theropod from the Late Triassic
September 15, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
paleojim.bsky.social
Why preserve the Academy of Natural Sciences; America's oldest Natural History Museum. It is a National Treasure! Should become an urban National Monument.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0-t...
@paleontologizing.bsky.social @paleosoc.bsky.social @scifri.bsky.social @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social
Preserving the Academy of Natural Sciences | Studio 2 from WHYY | 09/09/26
YouTube video by WHYY
www.youtube.com
September 11, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
sharonahill.bsky.social
I updated this page of the website. It's actually quite hard to define a subject/field of study when it was not well defined in the first place, never institutionalized, and has changed over time.

What is cryptozoology? – Modern Cryptozoology

moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com/what-is-cryp...
What is cryptozoology?
The answer to that depends on the lens you use to view cryptozoology. There are different versions of “cryptozoology” – as a field of study, a subject, or an idea. Generally, cryp…
moderncryptozoology.wordpress.com
September 11, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
The Deinonychus skeleton (cast) that stood in the ANSP's Dinosaur Hall for nearly forty years was the first of its kind, mounted two years before Yale could install one in the Peabody Museum. Contrary to popular belief, the Bone Wars never really ended.

#FossilFriday
Skeleton of a Deinonychus, sickle claw raised, attacking an unsuspecting Tenontosaurus in a museum hall bathed in moody red and purple lighting. Photo: Amber Redfield
September 11, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
Many were critical of us hosting the rally on a weekday, but when I talked to people who have experience with this, they said it was the move. More press come on weekdays.

I wasn't confident in my decision, until I saw the press roll in. Check it out (thread)

Inquirer: share.inquirer.com/ZP7zHY
Hundreds rally to protest the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum
With signs reading “Save Our Saurs,” and “Drexel Destroys Dinos?,” an intergenerational crowd. “It’s horrendous that our city would lose this,” an attendee said.
share.inquirer.com
September 9, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
inquirer.com
The crowd was decidedly intergenerational.
Hundreds rally to protest the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum
www.inquirer.com
September 8, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
jordan.matelsky.com
amazing crowd today to save the Academy of Natural Sciences! save-the-academy.org
and awesome speech by Councilwoman @ninaahmadphl.bsky.social!!

#savetheacademy
@sarahmackattack.bsky.social @skypeascientist.bsky.social @philadelphiascienceaction.substack.com @greenphilly.bsky.social
a large crowd gathers around the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on a bright sunny day, carrying signs that say variations of "Save the Academy"
September 8, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
toddrockford.bsky.social
Don't know if you saw this over on Facebook? Artist Ray Troll posted about your rally.
September 8, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
Really nice coverage in the inquirer of our rally to keep the academy of natural sciences open.

Br sure to read the part where 10 year ago old Ryan Sumner-Lee is quoted.

share.inquirer.com/ZP7zHY
Hundreds rally to protest the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum
The crowd was decidedly intergenerational.
share.inquirer.com
September 8, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
So we want to livestream the rally tomorrow from the Save The Academy instagram account, but the accounts needs 1000 followers to allow livestreaming.

Please please please can everyone go follow this instagram account?

www.instagram.com/savetheacade...
September 8, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
#DoItForNed
Ned Gilmore, Academy collections manager extraordinaire, dutiful steward of basically half the entire museum at this point, extracting a very old hellbender specimen from a jar of formaldehyde
September 8, 2026 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology stands with the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANSP) staff, and preservation of the ANSP Museum. SVP urges our member community and anyone who enjoys and supports the natural sciences to speak up on behalf of the ANSP and their staff!

#SaveTheAcademy
September 8, 2026 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
New on the blog: a (brief) recap of what led to this point in the storied history of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

diplotomodon.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/p...
“Patterns of Visitation and Audience Behavior”: Or, How We Got Here
The Academy’s penultimate location at the corner of Broad & Sansom Streets, Philadelphia, where Hadrosaurus foulkii first stood, circa 1840 It’s been almost a week since the news ab…
diplotomodon.wordpress.com
September 7, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
sharonahill.bsky.social
This one unfortunately didn’t go over well with one of my (now former) subscribers who was a hard core skeptic. Unexamined disbelief is equivalent to uncritical belief. You miss a lot. sharonahill.substack.com/p/dismissing...
Dismissing the dismissive Skeptic
Rejecting an interesting mystery out of hand is unhelpful. Occasionally, an unusual case leaves us wondering what really happened.
sharonahill.substack.com
September 7, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
In observation of their extinction, 90 years ago today: the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia's very own thylacine

(Photo by thylacine-dreams on tumblr)
A somewhat ratty-looking thylacine taxidermy mount with a white support belt around its body and inaccurate fangs
September 7, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Heads up Edmonton: this is the last weekend to see Death: Life's Greatest Mystery at RAM.

...and that will be a wrap on the tour for the most challenging exhibit I've ever worked on. Check it out if you can! royalalbertamuseum.ca/visit/exhibi...
Life-sized diorama of a whale fall, with octopuses and squat lobsters crawling over a minke whale skeleton. Beaded drapo flag depicting a fancy man with a mask, hat, and sunglasses dancing near a grave with bones at his feet and spores around him Elegant and stuffed ofrenda filled with photos, candles, marigolds, and otehr decorations Series of kusozu watercolors showing a woman's body in different states of decomposition
September 6, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
I had to write about the Academy of Natural Sciences.

diplotomodon.wordpress.com/2026/09/02/t...
The Wreck of Another World
Photo: Amber Redfield On July 17th, 1872, the preeminent paleontologist Joseph Leidy — who would later be described by contemporaries around the world as “the last man who knew everything&#82…
diplotomodon.wordpress.com
September 2, 2026 at 5:53 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
New blog post: The Academy of Natural Sciences is closing—how we got here and what you can do. Probably nothing you haven't already heard, but increasing the signal to anyone who has missed the news. extinctmonsters.net/2026/09/05/a...
Academy of Natural Sciences museum to close
Bad news this week: on Tuesday, September 1st, the longest-operating natural history museum in the United States announced its imminent closure. The Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS) in downtown Ph…
extinctmonsters.net
September 5, 2026 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
This #FossilFriday it only seems appropriate to spotlight the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences, oldest natural history museum in the Americas and currently in budgetary peril. 🧵 Thread to follow, with links to support the museum.

First: Thomas Jefferson's fossil collection...
Mastodon teeth collected from Big Bone Lick, Kentucky by Lewis and Clark for President Jefferson. Photo: Justin Tweet A massive partial skull of Bison latifrons, originally exhibited in the Peale Museum of Philadelphia and later catalogued in the collections of the American Philosophical Society Jefferson's personal Megalodon tooth (yes, really), sent to him from South Carolina. The president's name is written across the left margin of the tooth An illustration of the phalanges and claws of the giant ground sloth Megalonyx, originally described and named by Jefferson himself
April 10, 2026 at 4:44 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
diplotomodon.bsky.social
The ANSP's T. rex may "just" be a cast of the specimen in NYC, but it was the 1st to ever be mounted in the correct horizontal posture, thanks to the work of Ken Carpenter, Pat Leiggi, and many other familiar faces that got their start working in the exhibits department @ the Academy.

#FossilFriday
A Tyrannosaurus skeleton facing the viewer in a darkened museum hall Photo: @palaeoamber.com on Bluesky
September 4, 2026 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Was slumming it on fb and ig to see reactions to the Academy of Natural Sciences closing. It’s heartening that people are pissed. But it’s astonishing/enlightening how little understanding there is of what *any* museum is, who runs them, and how they’re funded.

🧵with dinosaur pics for attention
Museum display corral with cast skeleton of Tenontosaurus being attached by Deinonychus. Three baby Tenontosaurus following.
September 4, 2026 at 12:27 AM
Reposted by Lana J. Pratt
stevebrusatte.bsky.social
Just devastating. The oldest natural history museum in America will suddenly close its doors at the end of the month.

With budget cuts, flagging govt and political support, high overhead costs...I fear this fate may befall many of us.

www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/a...
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University to close museum on Sept. 30
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will close its museum in Philadelphia on Sept. 30, 2026, NBC10 confirmed.
www.nbcphiladelphia.com
September 3, 2026 at 9:30 AM