“Chewing on Change: The Tales Teeth Tell Us”

On February 22, 2023, Larisa DeSantis, a vertebrate paleontologist at Vanderbilt University, presented an online event titled “Chewing on Change: The Tales Teeth Tell Us” in honor of Darwin Day. This event, a reprise of her talk at the NABT conference in November 2022, explored the evolution of mammalian communities in response to climate change. DeSantis discussed various megafauna, including wombat-like animals the size of rhinoceroses, dire wolves, sabertooth cats, and giant kangaroos. She highlighted modern methods to understand the dietary behaviors and extinction causes of these animals and emphasized the evolution of marsupial predators to aid in conserving current species. The event also featured an educational session led by NCSE Teacher Ambassador Jennifer Broo and NCSE Director of Teacher Support Lin Andrews, who introduced a lesson set called “Good is Good Enough?” This set uses NGSS storylining to help students understand that populations, not individuals, evolve over time. The event underscored NCSE’s commitment to the ongoing education of science teachers through engaging and informative activities.