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Paläontologisches Institut

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Prof. Dr. Torsten Scheyer
Fossils from Aldabra Atoll
Leadership/contacts
Duration
January 2017 to December 2024
Funding sources
SNF, Personen- und Projektförderung
Collaborations
Dr. Dennis Hansen, IEU, University of Zurich (Switzerland)
Dr. Nicole Klein, Steinmann-Institut, Universität Bonn (Germany)
Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley & Dr. Nancy Bunbury, Seychelles Islands Foundation (Seychelles)
Summary
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Aldabra Atoll is home to about 100 000 giant tortoises, whose fossil record goes back to the Late Pleistocene. New Late Pleistocene fossils (age ca. 90–125 000 years) from the atoll revealed some appendicular bones and numerous shell fragments of giant tortoises, but also additional vertebrate material that is currently under study.
Publications
Scheyer, T. M., M. Delfino, N. Klein, N. Bunbury, F. Fleischer-Dogley, and D. M. Hansen. 2018. Trophic interactions between larger crocodylians and giant tortoises on Aldabra Atoll, Western Indian Ocean, during the Late Pleistocene. Royal Society Open Science 5: 171800 [doi: 10.1098/rsos.171800].