Larisa DeSantis

A new study led by Aditya Kurre, BA’22, and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Guggenheim Fellow Larisa DeSantis has revealed the specific diet of two species of giant ground sloth, uncovering the vital roles they played in their environments. Their findings could help scientists restore ecosystems that once thrived thanks to these massive mammals. Read More

Our past has something to say. 2025 Guggenheim Fellow Larisa DeSantis is ready to translate. Read More

Thirteen innovative projects across seven colleges and schools have been selected for the spring 2024 round of Seeding Success internal grants. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation announced the recipient list on May 31. Read More

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Larisa DeSantis discusses pizzly bears (grizzy + polar bear hybrid species)! Read More

Isotope analysis of ancient Peruvian teeth gives anthropologists a clearer image of how cooperating societies function. Read More

The quokka, a small marsupial native to Australia, is an example of a species vulnerable to extinction in the country’s harsh surroundings. In a new study, researchers at Vanderbilt University demonstrate evidence for the dramatic decline of quokkas over the past century. Read More

The extinction of one of Australia’s top predators, the marsupial lion, was likely a result of changing weather patterns and loss of habitat rather than human impacts, a study led by Vanderbilt University paleontologist Larisa DeSantis has found. Read More

Analysis suggests that climate change had a significant impact on megafauna diets and was a primary factor in their extinction. Read More

ILLUSTRATION BY CANDACE ROSE RARDON   About 7,500 years ago a construction project of almost unfathomable scope began taking shape along the Pacific coast of what is today northern Peru. Initially a low-lying ceremonial mound, it would become in 4,000 years’ time a monument of staggering size—100 feet tall,… Read More

Analysis of the microscopic wear on the teeth of three man-eating lions reveals that painful dental disease may have been what drove the cats to hunt humans instead of larger prey. Read More

A new study has compared the diet of a variety of Australian megafaunal herbivores from the period when they were widespread (350,000 to 570,000 years ago) to a period when they were in decline (30,000 to 40,000 years ago) by studying their fossil teeth. The analysis suggests that climate change had a significant impact on their diets and may well have been a primary factor in their extinction. Read More

Private Property and Government Inaction | Probiotic Could Prevent Obesity | Freedom from Power Cords | Pickiness Doesn’t Always Pay Read More

In the latest VUCast: See what cougars eat to help them avoid extinction; look inside Warren and Moore colleges, Vanderbilt’s newest living-learning community; and hear what Commodore football coaches are doing to create a winning team. Watch now! Read More

Cougars may have survived a mass extinction that took place about 12,000 years ago because they were not particular about what they ate. Read More

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Larisa DeSantis of Vanderbilt University reveals what North America’s largest predators were eating just before they died out. Read More

The latest study of the microscopic wear patterns on the teeth of the American lions and saber-toothed cats that roamed North America in the late Pleistocene found that they were living well off the fat of the land in the period just before they went extinct. Read More

The first study of how mammals in North America adapted to climate change in “deep time” found that taxonomical families with greater diversity were more stable and maintained larger ranges than less diverse families. Read More