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)

• DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12882
• Publication Date: 2016-10-13T03:56:49Z
• Authors: Anthony S. Cheke; Miguel Pedrono; Roger Bour; Atholl Anderson; Christine Griffiths; John B. Iverson; Julian P. Hume; Martin Walsh
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3828; histoire naturelle; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_32926; provenance; migration animale; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5509; Seychelles; 01 natural sciences; phylogénie; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5083; 14. Life underwater; évolution; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_13325; giant tortoise; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5088; Aldabra; heterophylly; radiocarbon dating; Testudinata; datation au radiocarbone; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2745; adn; L60 - Taxonomie et géographie animales; paléontologie; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_29427; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7017; Austronesian; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_16022; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2347; Mascarenes; sea drift; http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_13732; distribution géographique

AbstractEvidence 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 the Mascarenes and Seychelles colonized naturally and were not translocated there by humans.