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Palaeo Jam

Late last year, while on a trip to Naracoorte, South Australia, Palaeo Jam podcast host Michael Mills sat down with three students from the University of Adelaide, all at different stages as palaeontology students.

One, Stephanie Massacci, was just at the beginning of Honours, where the focus will be on seeking to clarify the taxonomy of the Pleistocene Tasmanian Devil, compared with the extinct giant Tasmanian Devil. The second, Isabella Donato, was at the end of Honours, in a project that explores the identification of skull bones in monitor lizards so that we know what species have lived here in the past. The third, Caitlin Mudge, was getting ready for PhD submission, through the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA on how species genetics relates to geographic location. The results of this research will help us understand the faunal landscape and historic diversity of several Australian mammal groups during the Holocene.

The wide ranging conversation touches on a number of topics relevant to palaeo students, along with each of their areas of study. They also discuss the idea of whether to reintroduce Tasmanian Devils back into mainland Australia, the merits of trying to bring back Thylacines and other extinct animals, and offer some sound advice to other students at different stages of their student life.

You can follow Caitlin on Twitter at @CaitlinMudge522 https://twitter.com/caitlinmudge522

Isabella on Twitter at @IzTheeScientist https://twitter.com/IzTheeScientist

Michael on Twitter at @HeapsGood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood

And Dinosaur University at @DinosaurUni https://twitter.com/DinosaurUni