The first substantiated case of trans‐oceanic tortoise dispersal

@article{Gerlach2006TheFS,
  title={The first substantiated case of trans‐oceanic tortoise dispersal},
  author={Justin J. Gerlach and Catharine Muir and Matthew D. Richmond},
  journal={Journal of Natural History},
  year={2006},
  volume={40},
  pages={2403 - 2408}
}
In December 2004 an Aldabra giant tortoise Dipsochelys dussumieri was washed ashore on the coast of east Africa, probably having been carried off the shore of Aldabra atoll, 740 km away. Although trans‐oceanic dispersal is assumed to be the mechanism by which tortoises and many other animals became established on islands throughout the world, this is the first direct evidence of a tortoise surviving such a sea‐crossing. 
View on Taylor & Francis
zenodo.org
50 Citations
Background Citations
24

50 Citations

Giant tortoises spread to western Indian Ocean islands by sea drift in pre‐Holocene times, not by later human agency – response to Wilmé et al. (2016a)

Evidence from DNA phylogeny, Plio‐Pleistocene ocean currents, giant tortoise dispersal, evolution of plant defences, radiocarbon dates and archaeology indicates that the endemic giant tortoises on…

How marine currents influenced the widespread natural overseas dispersal of reptiles in the Western Indian Ocean region

In a recent contribution to this journal, Wilmé et al. (2016) proposed that the giant tortoises of the islands of the Western Indian Ocean (WIO: Aldabra, the Mascarenes, and the Granitic Seychelles)…

The uncertainty of Late Pleistocene range expansions in the western Mediterranean: a case study of the colonization of south‐eastern Spain by the spur‐thighed tortoise, Testudo graeca

Recent biogeographical studies have postulated a North African, Late Pleistocene, origin for some species of the Iberian Peninsula. However, a robust assessment of such range expansions requires…

The giant tortoise, Aldabrachelys, and its bearing on the biogeography and dispersal of terrestrial biota in the Western Indian Ocean

Monkeys on a free-floating island in a Colombian river: further support for over-water colonization

Further to the debate associated with the viability of land-bound mammals being able to colonize remote frontiers by way of long-distance over-water dispersal, observations are documented of monkeys…

Human‐mediated dispersals do not explain tortoise distribution on the Indian Ocean's islands

The results most strongly support giant tortoises of the genus Cylindraspis evolving in situ in the Mascarene Islands since the early mid‐Miocence, and Aldabra Tortoises diverging from a Madagascan lineage in the early Oligocene.

Pleistocene Reptiles of The Soa Basin (Flores, Indonesia): Adaptation and Implication for Environment

The presence of fossil reptiles from the mainland of Asia, such as: giant tortoise (Megalochelys sp.), fresh water turtle (Geoemydidae), crocodile (Crocodylus sp.) and the komodo dragon (Varanus…

Human translocation as an alternative hypothesis to explain the presence of giant tortoises on remote islands in the south‐western Indian Ocean

It is proposed that giant tortoises were introduced to the IO islands by early Austronesian sailors, possibly to establish provisioning stations for their journeys, just as European sailors did in more recent historical times.

Lauraceae fossils from a volcanic Palaeocene oceanic island, Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean: ancient long‐distance dispersal?

Foliar fossils of Lauraceae demonstrate the occurrence of one of the world’s largest, most widely distributed woody plant families on a late Palaeocene island, and allow that even small, short-lived islands could have acted as ‘stepping stones’ for biotic interchange between Australia and Africa, and perhaps other regions.

A large testudinid with African affinities in the post‐Messinian (lower Pliocene) record of south‐eastern Spain

Herein, we describe Alatochelon myrteum gen. et sp. nov., a large tortoise from the post‐Messinian (lower Pliocene) of the area of Puerto de la Cadena (Region of Murcia), Spain. The new taxon cannot…

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 10 REFERENCES

Over-water dispersal of lizards due to hurricanes

The possibility and probability of over-water dispersal as a mechanism to explain the distribution of terrestrial animal species in the Caribbean has been hotly debated since the early part of this…

The Growth, Ecology and Population Structure of Giant Tortoises on Aldabra

The giant tortoise of Aldabra, Geochelone gigantea, shows quite marked changes in proportions with age, although during growth the relations between the length of the carapace and various…

Population processes in a large herbivorous reptile: the giant tortoise of Aldabra atoll

Individual growth rates were strongly dependent only on individual size and sub-population density and not on age or sex, which suggests that the equilibrium density and/or dynamics of giant tortoise populations are highly sensitive to mortality factors affecting very young animals.

Darwin's Islands: A Natural History of the Galapagos

Bargaining with reading habit is no need. Reading is not kind of something sold that you can take or not. It is a thing that will change your life to life better. It is the thing that will give you…

Darwin's Islands: A Natural History of the Galapagos , by Ian Thornton. Natural History Press, New York, $7.95.

The Galapagos Tortoises: Nomenclatural and Survival Status

Editorial

To bring some order and conceptual organization to these otherwise difficult lesions, the authors have tried to elucidate the significant features of the malformations in terms of the stage(s) at which development departed from normal.

The trial of deepwater Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) in Tanzania

  • Research Foundation
  • 2006

The trial of deepwater Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Samaki Consultants Ltd for MRAG(FMSP)/DfID/Project partners

  • 2006

Two giant tortoises were swept twenty miles by hurricane

  • Bulletin of the NewYork Zoological Society
  • 1936