As my chosen major of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology tells people, I am completely fascinated and in love with science, especially science that throws people into the mud for a specific leopard frog, up into trees to get a glimpse of a Kirtland’s warbler, and across the world to Papua New Guinea to study the Queen Alexandria’s Birdwing Butterfly. In the name of science, biologists go to extraordinary lengths when working in the field to contribute to our ever expanding knowledge of the ecosystems and animals that comprise this world. Unfortunately, few people realize this.

However, scientists are experiencing an increase in popularity among the general public thanks to social media. It all started with a tweet ending with the hashtag “FieldworkFails,” and has completely taken off from there. Biologists from all over the world are sharing their experiences in the field that did not quite turn out the way they expected. A lot of the tweets are so unfortunate they are hilarious, like this one.

Some tweets involve scarring innocent children.

Some are indescribably cute.

And even still, a few tweets just make you shake your head.

These images I easily found on Imgur.com, but many, many, many more can be found simply by searching the designated hashtag on Twitter. The amazing part is scientists are picking up on this new competition of sorts to see who has had the funniest fieldwork mishap, which means that all of them are trying to one-up each other. So, the stories are getting funnier and funnier and they keep flowing in.

Besides the entertainment provided by these tweets, the field of biology and the scientists themselves are receiving attention from the general public that they have not experienced before. It may end up being a short fad, but it is exciting all the same to see something about a scientist studying crocodiles flash across your social media page. Granted, said scientist ended up gluing himself to the crocodile, but I can’t help but think that at least a few of these tweets will spark enough curiosity in some people for them to learn more about the subjects the scientists are studying.

So, if you want to see the life of biologists who work in the field in some of its greatest glory, or if you simply just find yourself bored, I highly recommend you look through these tweets. I believe you will find that most of these “fieldwork fails” end up being fieldwork wins for the rest of us.