In June, Daniel Blumstein, a biologist, sat in a field in Gothic, Colo., waiting to see a marmot. The rodent was elusive, leaving his thoughts to wander.
He lamented a lack of funding for his work amid federal cuts to scientific research. Then he alighted on the television show “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and that’s when the epiphany came.
Perhaps the show’s plot, about a single mother who, unable to find conventional work, turns to the adult-content site OnlyFans to support herself, could be applied to marmots and research funding.
Back at his lab, Dr. Blumstein pitched the idea (with a wholesome spin) to his colleagues, who offered mixed feedback. But then one of his graduate students suggested naming the profile OnlyMarms.
“It’s going to be G-rated, and we’re not going to sexualize this,” Dr. Blumstein, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an interview on Friday. “We’re just going to have fun with sharing.”
The account, which uploads research videos of wild marmots — a genus of large, squirrel-like rodents with sharp claws and furry ears — burrowing nests or scurrying across rocks, offers free subscriptions but asks for tips, which go to funding the field studies conducted by Dr. Blumstein and his team.
The researchers track marmot behavior and lineages to understand, for example, how mammals react to environmental changes.
The researchers work with the marmots of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Crested Butte, Colo., which has studied the area’s yellow-bellied marmots since 1962.
But Dr. Blumstein hit a snag when he had to upload a photo of his driver’s license to create the OnlyFans account. The platform notified him that the face in the license photo did not match the ones nibbling on leaves or frolicking across a dirt patch in videos and photos he’d uploaded to the site.
The platform said “I don’t look like the marmot,” Dr. Blumstein said. “All the marmots are minors, but we have to do this for science education.”
A quick email took care of any doubts about his intentions. The team at U.C.L.A. promoted the page on Instagram, promising “uncensored marmot content!”
So far, the account has had about 2,900 visits and 112 subscribers, generating about $650 in tips, well short of what Dr. Blumstein said was required to continue the research for the foreseeable future.
Still, Emily Renkey, a member of the research team, was optimistic.
“Most people give around $10, which tells me there’s real and growing interest in what we’re doing,” she said in an email.
The team had applied for grants from several institutions but has not been able to secure meaningful funds.
Dr. Blumstein said that continuous research of the kind that his team is conducting can be invaluable to understand how animals and humans behave and evolve. There are very few studies that have lasted more than three years, he said.
Dr. Blumstein and his colleagues have used some of their personal funds to keep the program going, on top of what grants they have left, but that likely won’t be enough.
“You can’t just study humans to understand how and why we are human,” he said, adding that he doubts OnlyMarms will bring in the tens of thousands of dollars needed to support certain research.
The threat to Dr. Blumstein’s marmot research is part of a broad government overhaul of federal funding.
The Trump administration has fired staff members at federal science agencies, sought deep cuts to research programs, canceled grants and punished universities.
This week, President Trump’s science adviser said the administration would prioritize artificial intelligence, robotics and nuclear energy while reducing the government’s focus on what he called “life sciences.”
Dr. Blumstein and his associates are not the first to promote content on OnlyFans that doesn’t fit an explicit mold.
This week, the “Scary Movie” film franchise began to promote a page dedicated to its often inept but very stabby villain, Ghostface. And since 2023, the Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios has used the website to showcase his life off the court.
Unless OnlyMarms becomes a financial win, the time invested in it might be better spent on research, Dr. Blumstein said.
“It’s just frustrating,” Dr. Blumstein said, noting that he should be dedicating time to writing papers or working with students.
“But we’re doing this,” he said, “which is kind of silly in the long run.”
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
