A UCLA-led team studying yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado has opened an OnlyFans account called “OnlyMarms” to raise money following federal research funding cuts. The content, which features footage of marmots, hasn’t raised much money yet, but it’s given scientists something else to observe: the limits of online monetization.
The RMBL Marmot Project in Colorado has studied individually marked yellow-bellied marmots since 1962. These furry creatures —also known as rock chucks or whistle pigs are basically large ground squirrels and native to western North America. The study is the second oldest continuous focus on marked mammals in the world.
“I spend a lot of time waiting for marmots to do things and had the idea one slow morning,” Daniel Blumstein, UCLA Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology tells Live Science. “When I came back with this idea, one of my graduate students immediately said we must do this!”
As the Trump administration’s widespread funding cuts continue to hurt school programs and curtail important environmental research, it was a somewhat desperate move on the part of the group.
“We’re trying this out of frustration with an extremely challenging funding environment,” Blumstein adds. “If we’re lucky, it can help raise money for supplies and some expenses. But unless we are very lucky, it won’t replace the federal funding that has driven discovery in the US since the 1950s.”
The team announced OnlyMarms on Instagram in June citing the state of research funding and debuting the G-rated content, which features marmots playing, digging and carrying plants to burrows. As of Live Science’s report, the page had 735 page visits and 44 fans. It currently has 3000+ likes.
Subscriptions are free and the Marms are asking for tips. But Blumstein and his study partners have quickly learned that OnlyFans isn’t just an easy way to make a quick buck. He bemoans OF’s 20 percent take and tax fee on the balance.
How the group of tenured scientists arrived at OnlyFans as a funding mechanism is unclear but within a month, the group independently discovered every complaint adult creators have been making for years: free subs do not convert, tips are unpredictable, the platform takes its cut regardless, and the tax burden lands on the individual.
Check out Only Marms –which promises new pups soon– for the cuddly content. You can also make tax deductible donations to the Blumstein Marmot Project at UCLA here.
