Jon Waters and Catherine Collins with a male New Zealand sealion at Sandfly Bay on the Otago Peninsula (image: A. Ballance)
Zoologist Jon Waters from the University of Otago leads a research team that has been using ancient DNA to challenge our ideas about coastal species such as yellow-eyed penguins and New Zealand sealions. Four years ago work by Sanna Boessenkool showed that the large penguin species that was present when Maori settled New Zealand and subsequently became extinct was a different species from the yellow-eyed penguin that is now present.
Alison joins Jon and PhD student Catherine Collins to hear about that work, and new research that is looking at sealions.
