Tetraploidy is the situation where an organism inherits double the normal amount of DNA. It commonly occurs in plants, for example when two species form a new hybrid species, perhaps after geographical distributions have altered due to human interference or climate change. Tetraploids often have different characters to their parent species and may live in different habitats. Many plants of economic, agricultural and environmental importance are tetraploids (or polyploids), often with enhanced growth properties. Animals are far less prone to tetraploidy, and it was unknown in mammals. It is not known, therefore, if a tetraploid mammal would exploit different environments, whether it could speciate, or whether it would be an evolutionary dead-end. In 1999, a possible tetraploid mammal was described from the salt-rich deserts of Argentina; a second (and possibly third) species have since been found. The objectives of this project are to use DNA-based methods to test the tetraploid nature of the animals, to determine relation to other species, and to determine if mammalian tetraploidy is a dead-end. Outputs will include insight into the links between genomes and the environment, and possible contributions to knowledge-based conservation.