Due to cuts in federal funding, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) decided to use the subscription platform OnlyFans to share adorable videos and raise financial resources for their research.
How OnlyFans Works
OnlyFans is a subscription content platform with over 370 million projected users by 2025. On this platform, users, called fans, pay monthly fees to access exclusive materials, with costs ranging from a few dollars to over US$ 50 per month (equivalent to more than R$ 250). Additionally, certain videos and photos require extra payments.
Although the site is known for hosting explicit adult content, as it does not impose limits on the amount charged or the type of material published by creators, it covers various niches. Content creators in areas such as cooking, music, fitness, and tutorials also use the platform to monetize their work directly with their followers.
New Scientific Niche
Recently, OnlyFans incorporated an unusual niche: marmot videos. The entity responsible for this initiative is the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), one of the most renowned public universities in the United States.
The UCLA studies focus on yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer), which inhabit the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This project, active since 1962, is a reference in the field for conducting individual monitoring of these animals. Over decades, scientists observe the behavior, kinship, reproduction, survival, and other characteristics of the species, which faces serious environmental difficulties.
Funding Challenges
In the previous winter, the project recorded one of the highest mortality rates ever documented, with over one hundred monitored marmots dying. However, with the reduction in government financial support, the research depends only on a small reserve of resources, whose duration is uncertain. The team has already sought sponsorship from several institutions, and some researchers have invested personal resources to maintain the work, but the funds are still insufficient, putting the study at risk of closure.
The OnlyMarms Initiative
To find a way to increase revenue, biologist Daniel Blumstein proposed using OnlyFans to make available the cute marmot videos captured by the research cameras. It is important to note that this content is not sexual in nature. These rodents are compared to more robust and furry squirrels, capable of reaching the size of a cat. The footage and photographs show the animals engaged in activities such as eating, playing, transporting vegetables, interacting with pups, and digging burrows, using their sharp claws.
Thus, the OnlyMarms profile was born, a play on the name of the original platform, replacing
