Larisa DeSantis

Kids of all ages can find and take home a 400-million-year-old souvenir and learn all about the hunt for clues to the ancient past at Fort Negley April 7. 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

Fossils at the Fort is happening on Saturday, March 25, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fort Negley Visitors Center and Park. The event is free and will take place rain or shine. 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

Findings from archaeologist Tom Dillehay's dig at Huaca Prieta and Paredones include the world's earliest known use of indigo dye. Read More

Fossils at the Fort is a free annual event providing young and old with an opportunity to journey into Middle Tennessee's astonishing ancient past. Read More

Read about faculty, staff and student awards, appointments and achievements. Read More

Larisa DeSantis, assistant professor of Earth and environmental sciences, is a featured expert on Nat Geo Wild’s Future Cat, part of the network’s Big Cat week. 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