US Researchers Turn To OnlyFans To Raise Money Amid Federal Funding Cuts

Researchers in the US have turned to OnlyFans to secure funding for their work after the Donald Trump administration cancelled billions in research grants. Daniel Blumstein, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been spearheading one of the longest-running studies of free-living mammals in the world, focused on yellow-bellied marmots (football-sized rodents) in central Colorado. Fearing that a lack of funding might lead to cancellation of the programme, Blumstein came up with the OnlyFans idea.

Although more commonly associated with adult content, Blumstein decided to use OnlyFans to provide "unfiltered yellow-bellied marmot content" in the shape of near-daily photos and videos of the chubby marmots. Users can subscribe to the OnlyMarms account free of cost, as Blumstein and his team are relying on tips to make up for the lack of funding.

"We are extremely grateful for any donations, which will directly support our marmot research (tips are completely voluntary and carry no expectations or obligations from us). OnlyMarms is not associated with the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and donations do not go to support RMBL, but rather the marmot project at the RMBL," reads the OnlyMarms bio.

The content on the website consists of marmots playing, being cute, digging and bringing plants to their burrows. As for how the idea came to fruition, Blumstein said he thought of it and received instant encouragement from his students.

"I spend a lot of time waiting for marmots to do things and had the idea one slow morning. When I came back with this idea, one of my graduate students immediately said we MUST do this! So here we are!" Blumstein was quoted as saying by LiveScience.

"We're trying this out of frustration with an extremely challenging funding environment," Blumstein said. "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."

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Public Engagement And Interest

While Blumstein is accepting tips, the team has not been able to raise much, as OnlyFans is taking 20 per cent of the amount and they have to pay taxes on the balance.

Despite this, the team is hopeful that the public engagement would help bring more attention to the project. Blumstein took over the marmot project from its founder in 2001 and managed to receive funding relatively easily in the initial years. However, during his last attempt, he was denied three times before the agency told him to stop applying.