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Palaeo JamAuthor: Dinosaur University
Palaeo Jam is a podcast exploring a range of issues in science and the community, using the multidisciplinary aspects of, and public fascination with, palaeontology. Palaeo Jam uses fossils, and other objects from palaeontology, to explore a range of scientific and social issues, and incorporate key research and discoveries into its content. that fancy description aside, its really an opportunity for host Michael Mills to chat with palaeontologists and learn some cool things!. Each episode is restricted to a strict, 30-minute timeframe. Each episode has a panel of up to three guests, and is hosted by award-winning science communicator Michael Mills. You can but a Palaeo Jam mug, and eventually others Palaeo Jam merch from the Dinosaur University shop! Language: en Genres: Life Sciences, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Kanga who?
Episode 5
Thursday, 20 November, 2025
What actually is a kangaroo? And how long have they been the giant red or grey hopping things so synonymous with Australia? In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills chats with Dr Isaac Kerr about the origin of kangaroos as “weird possums that lived in the trees a bit”, the significant gaps in the kangaroo origin fossil record, and how we make sense of what we’ve got. In a wide ranging conversation about kangaroo origins, they also discuss why of all the locomotion strategies that could have been adopted, Australia is the only place where large animals have taken to hopping. You can follow Isaac on Blue Sky at https://bsky.app/profile/isaacarkerr.bsky.social Isaac’s latest paper, “Limb osteology and functional morphology of the extinct kangaroo Dorcopsoides fossilis”, can be found at… https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.251591 It was in Episode 1 of Season 3 that Michael and Isaac first chatted about the prehistoric group of kangaroos, Protemnodons. Find the episode here… https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/the-tale-of-a-giant-prehistoric-kangaroo-or-three/ You can read the full 250 plus pages of Isaac’s remarkable paper on Protemnodon, here… https://mapress.com/mt/article/view/megataxa.11.1.1 Here’s a link to the Flinders University palaeo team… https://sites.flinders.edu.au/palaeontology/ You can find Michael on Blue Sky at https://bsky.app/profile/heapsgood.bsky.social To connect with Dinosaur University on Facebook, follow us at https://www.facebook.com/DinosaurUniversity At Palaeo Jam, we have an Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/palaeo_jam
