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A, location of Mauritius in the southwestern Indian Ocean and locations of Mare aux Songes (MAS), Fort Frederik Hendrik (FFH), and Lake Tatos (MTS); B, map of Mare aux Songes and the sub-basins near the coast. Rectangular frame shows extent of inset C; C, geomorphological map of the Mare aux Songes area showing positions of all sub-basins (0, I, II, III) and locations of trenches TR1 (TR0), TR2, and TR3 (TR4). Rectangular frame shows extent of inset D; D, left panel showing extent of marsh at sub-basin I. The dashed line represents the longitudinal cross-section with positions of dated and undated samples from cores, scoops, and trenches. Right panel showing the longitudinal cross-section through the marsh with locations of radiocarbon dated samples (see Table 1). B is carbonate sands, C is lake marl and gyttja, D is fossil layer, and E is dumped basalt boulder layer.
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The dodo Raphus cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758, an extinct and flightless, giant pigeon endemic to Mauritius, has fascinated people since its discovery, yet has remained surprisingly poorly known. Until the mid-19th century, almost all that was known about the dodo was based on illustrations and written accounts by 17th century mariners, often of questi...
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... bulk of the dodo subfossil material for pre-2005 studies on dodo anatomy were retrieved from an exceptionally rich vertebrate concentration Lagerst€ atte preserving multiple taxa called the Mare aux Songes, a marsh situated in a rocky valley near the southeastern coast of Mauritius ( Fig. 2A; Rijsdijk et al., 2009;Hume et al., 2014a). The 1.8-ha Lagerst€ atte situated in sub-basin I, the major sub-basin of the valley complex (Figs. 2B, C), comprises an up to 0.5 m thick bonebed containing more than 20 vertebrate species, plant remains, terrestrial and fresh- water mollusk and insect subfossils, and a suite of microfossils. ...
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... an up to 0.5 m thick bonebed containing more than 20 vertebrate species, plant remains, terrestrial and fresh- water mollusk and insect subfossils, and a suite of microfossils. Remarkably, the vertebrate subfossils in sub-basin I accumulated in less than a century ca. 4200 years ago, suggesting mass mortal- ity events led to its formation ( Fig. 2D; Rijsdijk et al., 2009). Paleoecological research has shown that the vertebrate mass mortality was triggered by a series of extreme climatic drought events that affected a large part of the southwestern Indian Ocean region (De Boer et al., 2014. A unique combina- tion of local geomorphic and hydrotaphonomic factors, coupled with ...
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... isolated Mascarene Islands, comprising Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodrigues, are volcanic in origin and situated in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Mauritius lies 829 km east of Madagascar, the nearest large landmass ( Fig. 2A). Arab traders probably discovered the Mascarene Islands as early as the 13th century (Hume, 2013), followed by the Portuguese in the early 16th century, but neither the Arabs nor Portuguese settled there, as far as we know (North-Coombes, 1994). A Dutch trading fleet under Vice Admiral Wybrandt van Warwijck, en route to the Far East, ...
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... refurbishment station was soon realized, and the island became an important stopover for outward and homeward bound VOC fleets. With the increase of European competitors in the Indian Ocean, the VOC established a permanent settle- ment in 1638, constructing Fort Frederik Hendrik beside the southeastern harbor, the present-day Vieux Grand Port ( Fig. 2A). This period of occupation, which saw the introduction of slaves from Madagascar and cutting down of ebony trees, ended in 1658, when the VOC abandoned the island. In 1652, the Cape of Good Hope was developed as an excellent port of call, which left Mauritius as a costly and superfluous establishment (Sleigh, 1993). However, with ...
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... dodo in October of that year (Owen, 1866a;Hume et al., 2009). Crucially, this monograph and Owen's reconstructed skel- eton were based on unassociated dodo bones from dozens of individuals of unknown age and sex, which were retrieved from the small (0.33 ha) sub-basin 0 situated adjacent to sub-basin I of the Mare aux Songes (Hume et al., 2014a; Fig. 2C). Regardless, this work served as a key reference on the morphology, physiol- ogy, and biology of the dodo for subsequent workers over the next 150 years (Livezey, 1993;Cheke and Hume, 2008;Hume et al., ...
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... K.F.R. and F.B. were invited to Mauritius by archae- ologist P.F., project leader of the archaeological excavations at Fort Frederik Hendrik at Vieux Grand Port, to reconstruct the landscape as it was prior to human settlement, based on Quater- nary geological and palynological reconstructions (Floore and Schrire, 1997; Floore and Jayasena, 2010; Fig. 2A). The primary aim of the archaeological project, which began in 1997, was to locate the first human settlement on Mauritius and compare find- ings with documentary records. The fort's archaeological record proved extremely productive and not only provided 17th century information on the building structures and human population, but ...
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... site was excavated for six successive years. In the first year (Expedition I), the aim was to assess the fossil richness of the sub-basins. A succession of 10 exploratory cores were taken, which established that only sub-basins I and III contained verte- brate remains (Fig. 2C). Basin 0 was not sampled because its location remained unknown at that time ( Hume et al., 2014a). In addition, piezometers (pressure sensors) were installed in each of the three sub-basins, at 1 and 3 m below surface levels, to monitor the groundwater table and to analyze water samples ( Rijsdijk et al., 2009Rijsdijk et al., , 2011). ...
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... were installed in each of the three sub-basins, at 1 and 3 m below surface levels, to monitor the groundwater table and to analyze water samples ( Rijsdijk et al., 2009Rijsdijk et al., , 2011). Mechanical digging machines exca- vated three trenches (TR): TR1 at the margin of basin I, TR2 in sub-basin III, and TR3 in the middle of sub-basin I (Fig. 2C). Bulk samples were sieved from all trenches ( Rijsdijk et al., 2009). The first excavation was also crucial in establishing a methodology for undertaking a scientific excavation below the water table (Hume et al., ...
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... £ 100-liter sacks being used for the excavated sediment. It took another four sessions (Expeditions IV-VI;2009-2011) to finish the in situ excavations in TR4, which included the recording of three-dimensional (3D) orientations of individual bones ( Rijsdijk et al., unpubl. data). A total of 27 sam- ples were taken for radiocarbon dating (Table 1; Fig. 2D). The Mare aux Songes fossil locality is now completely protected within a fenced boundary at Omnicane, and members of the Dodo Research Programme are still processing the ...
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... aux Songes is a rocky valley formed <100 kyr ago, possibly as a combination of lava tunnel collapse and phre- atic-magmatic explosive activity (De Boer et al., 2105). The valley comprises four sub-basins, three of which, sub-basins 0, I, and III, contain subfossil bones (Fig. 2B). The mean groundwater level is approximately 0.5 m below present land surface level. The basins are hydrologically connected with the ocean through permeable basalts (Fig. 4), and as a result, fresh groundwater overlies a saline water wedge that increases in thickness towards the ocean, less than 2 km away. As a consequence, the ...
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... 8 m thick, deposited during the Pleistocene, and the sequence is concluded by up to 2 m of clayey soils (unit A) overlying the bedrock ( Fig. 5A; Rijsdijk et al., 2011). Samples for radiocarbon dating (n D 27), of which 23 were suc- cessful, were obtained from the bonebed and just below it at three localities (TR0, CH5, and TR4) in sub-basin I ( Fig. 2D; Table 1). These included bones (n D 7), a mollusk, and plant material (n D 12). These radiocarbon dates indicate that the bonebed is nearly isochronic and was formed approximately 4200 years ago (see ; B, sediments exposed in 100 cm wide excavator scoop at TR1 at the former lake margin of sub-basin I: bone-supported bonebed, mixed ...
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... analysis of deposits in a nearby coastal lake, Mare Tatos, 26 km NNE of Mare aux Songes ( Fig. 2A), shows that anomalous decadal to centennial drought events occurred between 4350 and 4130 cal BP (De Boer et al., 2014. This period, also referred to as the '4.2 ka megadrought,' has been recorded in other sites around the Indian Ocean and is associ- ated with civilization collapses in Egypt, Pakistan, Mesopotamia, and eastern Africa ( ...
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... (1866) original 1865 excavation site at sub-basin 0 has proved to be a different depositional environment from that in sub-basin I, which explains the remarkable difference in bone taphonomy and aDNA preservation from the sites (Hume, 2003;Hume et al., 2014a; Fig. 2C). Although the bones in sub-basin I were only exposed subaerially during droughts 4200 years ago, for most of the time (>4000 years) they remained under anoxic, water-logged conditions; the bones in the higher-positioned sub- basin 0 were exposed more frequently due to a more shallow burial in the marsh on the lake shore (ibid). ...
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... bonebed of sub-basin I at Mare aux Songes (Fig. 2C) pro- vides a window of less than a century documenting the response of a coastal ecosystem to an extreme climatic event 4200 years ago. Although many thousands of vertebrates died within an area of 1.8 ha as a result of this pre-human-contact catastrophic event, the dodo and other vertebrates survived until the arrival of humans over ...
Citations
... By the time Fort Frederik was built, it appears many local endemic faunae were already extinct or close to dying out. However, the fascination with the singular fauna of the island, dominated by the dodo, has led to much recent and important discoveries about the morphology, and possible habits and ethology, of this iconic emblem of extinction Janoo 2005;Meijer et al. 2012;Rijsdijk et al. 2015). ...
This paper considers the value of past and prospective applications of key environmental archaeological and earth science fields relating to the historical ecology of Mauritius and the Mascarene islands more broadly: palaeoecology, geoarchaeology, zooarchaeology and climate studies. The contribution of each subfield is outlined with the aim of demonstrating the potential value of an integrated environmental archaeological approach for developing a long-term understanding of the human ecology of Mauritius and its associated islands. The paper considers the potential and limitations of existing approaches and data, as well as future challenges. Beyond solely reconstructing the nuances of anthropogenic impact on the environment in relation to the island’s history of settlement, we argue that environmental archaeology can contribute to an understanding of “biocultural diversity” as an integral element of Mauritian heritage, bridging the divide between cultural and natural heritage.
... For instance, the extinction of the dodo bird (Raphus cucullatus), a gigantic pigeon-like native of the island of Mauritius was assumed to have gone extinct in the seventeenth century after the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch sailors (Kitchener, 1993). According to some historians, the dodo did not have any known predator, so the first explorers to the island became an unfamiliar threat for the dodo (Rijsdijk and others, 2015). Furthermore, colonizers destroyed the dodo's natural habitat and brought with them pigs, cats, dogs, rats and other animals that may have fed from dodo nests and most likely became competitors for the same sources of food (Kitchener, 1993). ...
Extinction often proceeds slowly over thousands to millions of years, but through intense human activities, we have put our foot on the extinction accelerator. The current rate of species extinction is at least tens to hundreds of times higher than natural background rates due to human with drastic consequences for all life on our planet. Recent studies also suggest that extinctions could cascade through ecological dependencies between species in an ecosystem, setting off waves of secondary extinctions and amplifying the effects of environmental degradation. As ecosystems are built on intricate networks of connections between different species, the real impact of extinction may be much greater than we realize. This technical background report for the 2023 edition of the Interconnected Disaster Risks report analyses the root causes, drivers, impacts and potential solutions for the accelerating extinctions risk tipping point our world is facing through an analysis of academic literature, media articles and expert interviews.
... Unlike the agricultural land use as defined by Cartwright et al, (2014) occupying 'vast tracts' in their study area, pastures at the study site typically occurred as relatively long and narrow bands bordered by large trees, which offer plenty of perching points conducive for kestrel to hunt from (Burgess et al. 2011). Cheke & Hume (2008) inferred from historical accounts that the original Mauritian coastal areas were dominated by palm rich community with fan-like palms (Latania) and Hurricane Palms (Dictyosperma) and open grassland with scattered trees and shrubs and this was later supported by paleo-ecological finds of both macro-fossils (Rijsdijk et al., 2015) and pollen (De Boer et al., 2014) which also indicated the abundance of several species of screwpine (Pandanus spp.). This broadly resembles the habitat structure created by the presence of Ravenala, and habitat fragmentation created by deer grazing grounds in the Bambou mountains. ...
The Mauritius Kestrel Falco punctatus, once the rarest kestrel worldwide, became an icon of bird conservation after it recovered from four to six individuals in 1974 to some 800 by 2005 following intense conservation management. Its population however then halved within about a decade prompting a re-evaluation of the IUCN status and up listing of the species in 2014 and an increased conservation attention. Drivers of this new decline are unclear and the influence of habitat structure and diet on breeding success may be important contributors but have received relatively little attention, particularly in the way they may interact to influence production of new fledglings. We address this knowledge gap by studying whether breeding success is influenced by habitat structure (in terms of cover of the invasive Ravenala in native habitats, an alien plant causing strong structural shift in the forests that it invades, and extent of cleared area), diet composition and food pass frequency (as a proxy for food intake) and food quality at 28 nests of a reintroduced kestrel population in south east Mauritius during the 2015-2016 breeding season. The kestrel's diet comprised native and alien birds, reptiles, insects, and small alien mammals, with a disproportionately high proportion of Phelsuma gecko. A higher frequency of food provisioning and percentage cover of Ravenala both contributed to higher breeding success. Ravenala may increase gecko density or increase gecko detectability and predation by the kestrel, or both, while changed land use (pasture and sugar cane fields) may increase prey diversity in the form of non-forest prey known to be eaten by Kestrels (e.g. alien agamids, small mammals and birds). These prey related influences on breeding suggest that the Bambou mountain range provides a human-generated novel ecosystem altering food availability and increasing the kestrel's breeding success. However, Ravenala is an invasive alien species harmful to the wider forest biodiversity. Progressive weeding of Ravenala and concurrent re-introduction and augmentation of native palms and Pan-danus species which geckos can use at comparable densities to Ravenala, is recommended. This would likely improve the kestrel's hunting habitat quality and maintain high gecko density or detectability and the vegetation structure required for hunting manoeuvrability and prey availability without the negative consequences of inva-sive Ravenala.
... In the Mascarenes, Réunion paleoecosystems remain the less well investigated (Hume, 2013). The main reasons are geomorphological as the island has few favorable sites (but see Mourer-Chauviré et al., 1999) compared to Mauritius and Rodrigues where caves, limestone deposits and Lagerstätte as La Mare aux Songes have yielded numerous subfossil bones (Griffiths and Florens, 2006;Cheke and Hume, 2008;Rijsdijk et al., 2009Rijsdijk et al., , 2015Hume, 2013;Hume et al., 2021). Due to the lack of osteological material, several emblematic vertebrates have not yet been described and remain poorly known, such as the Réunion blue pigeon, the Réunion turtle dove or the Réunion red and green parrot (Hume, 2011(Hume, , 2013. ...
The Mascarenes are sadly famous worldwide for the massive extinction of their native vertebrates since recent human colonization. However, extinction patterns show astonishing disparities between the two main islands and between lineages of forest vertebrates. On Réunion (2,512 km², 3,070 m) where about a third of native habitats remains, most large-bodied vertebrates, especially frugivores, collapsed by the first half of the 18th century, while several have survived longer and some still exist on Mauritius (1,865 km², 828 m) where more than 95% of native habitats have been transformed. Considering lineages of forest vertebrates shared by both islands (23 genera, 53 species), we test the hypothesis that differing patterns of lowland suitable habitat destruction is the main cause behind this paradox. Before that, we assess the potential impact of other major drivers of extinctions since first contact with humans. Firstly, Mauritius shows earlier and more numerous introductions of mammal predators known for their devastating impact (except northern islets which have thus become important sanctuaries for several squamates). Secondly, settlers were inveterate hunters on both islands, but while Réunion was overhunted before Mauritius, the burst of human population in the latter in late 18th century has not led to the rapid extinction of all large native vertebrates. These two factors alone therefore cannot explain the observed paradox. Rather, the early destruction of lowland habitats (<400 m) on Réunion is concomitant with most extinctions of forest vertebrate, notably frugivores that rapidly lost most lowland habitats dominated by large fleshy-fruited plants. Moreover, landform-induced fragmentation has likely decreased the ability of adjacent habitats to act as effective refuges. Conversely, Mauritius retained suitable low-fragmented habitats until the late 19th which probably allowed, at least for a time, several native vertebrates to escape from multiple human-induced disturbances. Despite the almost total destruction of native habitats since then on Mauritius, conservation actions have saved several threatened vertebrate species that play a fundamental role in the functioning of native ecosystems. The fact that there are now more favorable habitats on Réunion than on Mauritius argues for the rewilding of Réunion with these extant large vertebrates.
... Based on peptide identification, it could be shown that animal material derived from sheep or goat were used for skin garments and costumes that were 2000 to 3000 years old. The oldest authenticated protein sequences from birds were retrieved from ostrich egg shells in a study by Demarchi et al. (2016). The protein sequences retrieved were 3.8 million years old, which is much older than the oldest retrieved DNA sequences. ...
We used proteomic profiling to taxonomically classify extinct, alongside extant bird species using mass spectrometry on ancient bone-derived collagen chains COL1A1 and COL1A2. Proteins of Holocene and Late Pleistocene-aged bones from dodo (Raphus cucullatus) and great auk (Pinguinus impennis), as well as bones from chicken (Gallus gallus), rock dove (Columba livia), zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) and peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), of various ages ranging from the present to 1455 years old were analysed. HCl and guandine-HCL-based protein extractions from fresh bone materials yielded up to 60% coverage of collagens COL1A1 and COL1A2, and extractions from ancient materials yielded up to 46% coverage of collagens COL1A1 and COL1A2. Data were retrieved from multiple peptide sequences obtained from different specimens and multiple extractions. Upon alignment, and in line with the latest evolutionary insights, protein data obtained from great auk grouped with data from a recently sequenced razorbill (Alca torda) genome. Similarly, protein data obtained from bones of dodo and modern rock dove grouped in a single clade. Lastly, protein data obtained from chicken bones, both from ancient and fresh materials, grouped as a separate, basal clade. Our proteomic analyses enabled taxonomic classification of all ancient bones, thereby complementing phylogenetics based on DNA. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: ancient proteins-bird taxonomy-dodo-extant birds-great auk-palaeoproteomics-phylogeny.
... This is a shallow swamp in the southeast of Mauritius, which includes a bone bed consisting primarily of tortoise bones (Rijsdijk et al., 2009). Radiocarbon dates indicate that the fossils were deposited in a relatively short time frame, between 4,235 and 4,100 years ago (Rijsdijk et al., 2009(Rijsdijk et al., , 2011(Rijsdijk et al., , 2015. Most dodo bones were excavated during the 19th century and are stored in the Natural History Museum of Mauritius in Port Louis and owned by the Mauritius Museums Council, but many can also be found in various museums throughout Europe. ...
The dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) might be the most enigmatic bird of all times. It is, therefore, highly remarkable that no consensus has yet been reached on its body mass; previous scientific estimates of its mass vary by more than 100%. Until now, the vast amount of bones stored at the Natural History Museum in Mauritius has not yet been studied morphometrically nor in relation to body mass. Here, a new estimate of the dodo’s mass is presented based on the largest sample of dodo femora ever measured ( n = 174). In order to do this, we have used the regression method and chosen our variables based on biological, mathematical and physical arguments. The results indicate that the mean mass of the dodo was circa 12 kg, which is approximately five times as heavy as the largest living Columbidae (pigeons and doves), the clade to which the dodo belongs.
... After the extinction of the largest lemur species, many of the large dung beetles went extinct, although some Helictopleurini species were able to switch to dung of cattle . Endemic dung beetles are also rare to the point of extinction on the island of Mauritius, sometimes found in only one location (Motala et al., 2007), while their remains are plentiful in Holocene subfossil deposits filled with the bones of island megafauna tortoises and the dodo (Rijsdijk et al., 2015). In addition, the large-bodied elephant-specialist Heliocopris species remain abundant in regions across continental Africa that have historically retained higher elephant densities, such as Kruger National Park. ...
For hundreds of millions of years, large vertebrates (megafauna) have inhabited most of the ecosystems on our planet. During the late Quaternary, notably during the Late Pleistocene and the early Holocene, Earth experienced a rapid extinction of large, terrestrial vertebrates. While much attention has been paid to understanding the causes of this massive megafauna extinction, less attention has been given to understanding the impacts of loss of megafauna on other organisms with whom they interacted. In this review, we discuss how the loss of megafauna disrupted and reshaped ecological interactions, and explore the ecological consequences of the ongoing decline of large vertebrates. Numerous late Quaternary extinct species of predators, parasites, commensals and mutualistic partners were associated with megafauna and were probably lost due to their strict dependence upon them (co-extinctions). Moreover, many extant species have megafauna-adapted traits that provided evolutionary benefits under past megafauna-rich conditions, but are now of no or limited use (anachronisms). Morphological evolution and behavioural changes allowed some of these species partially to overcome the absence of megafauna. Although the extinction of megafauna led to a number of co-extinction events, several species that likely co-evolved with megafauna established new interactions with humans and their domestic animals. Species that were highly specialized in interactions with megafauna, such as large predators, specialized parasites, and large commensalists (e.g. scavengers, dung beetles), and could not adapt to new hosts or prey were more likely to die out. Partners that were less megafauna dependent persisted because of behavioural plasticity or by shifting their dependency to humans via domestication, facilitation or pathogen spill-over, or through interactions with domestic megafauna. We argue that the ongoing extinction of the extant megafauna in the Anthropocene will catalyse another wave of co-extinctions due to the enormous diversity of key ecological interactions and functional roles provided by the megafauna.
... On theoretical and empirical grounds, we know that the removal (or addition) of a major trophic level or function has wideranging impacts on ecosystem process and form, often out of proportion to the number of extinctions initially involved. For example, palaeoecological studies from Mauritius show that the now extinct dodo and two species of giant tortoise lived in dense populations in the coastal lowlands 75 . These populations experienced regular environmental hazards from tropical storms and seasonal droughts 76 . ...
The discovery and colonisation of islands by humans has invariably resulted in their widespread ecological transformation. The small and isolated populations of many island taxa, and their evolution in the absence of humans and their introduced taxa, mean that they are particularly vulnerable to human activities. Consequently, even the most degraded islands are a focus for restoration, eradication, and monitoring programmes to protect the remaining endemic and/or relict populations. Here, we build a framework that incorporates an assessment of the degree of change from multiple baseline reference periods using long-term ecological data. The use of multiple reference points may provide information on both the variability of natural systems and responses to successive waves of cultural transformation of island ecosystems, involving, for example, the alteration of fire and grazing regimes and the introduction of non-native species. We provide exemplification of how such approaches can provide valuable information for biodiversity conservation managers of island ecosystems.
... On the contrary, there is a ubiquitous presence of dung-fungus spores -indicat- ing the presence of large herbivorous ver- tebrates -in the lowlands of the Mascarenes reaching back thousands of years (e.g. de Boer et al., 2015), and abun- dant evidence of the pre-European pres- ence of giant tortoises in the Mascarenes from fossil bones ( Rijsdijk et al., 2015). ...
How do organisms arrive on isolated islands, and how do insular evolutionary radiations arise? In a recent paper, Wilmé et al. (2016a) argue that early Austronesians that colonized Madagascar from Southeast Asia translocated giant tortoises to islands in the western Indian Ocean. In the Mascarene Islands, moreover, the human-translocated tortoises then evolved and radiated in an endemic genus (Cylindraspis). Their proposal ignores the broad, established understanding of the processes leading to the formation of native island biotas, including endemic radiations. We find Wilmé et al.'s suggestion poorly conceived, using a flawed methodology and missing two critical pieces of information: the timing and the specifics of proposed translocations. In response, we here summarize the arguments that could be used to defend the natural origin not only of Indian Ocean giant tortoises but also of scores of insular endemic radiations world-wide. Reinforcing a generalist's objection, the phylogenetic and ecological data on giant tortoises, and current knowledge of environmental and palaeogeographical history of the Indian Ocean, make Wilmé et al.'s argument even more unlikely.
... This rediscovery was followed by six interdisciplinary expeditions between 2006 and 2011, during which field evidence was collected to unravel the taphonomic and environmental conditions that led to the formation of this 4200-year-old multitaxic bonebed (e.g., Nicholls, 2006;Rijsdijk et al., 2009Rijsdijk et al., , 2011De Boer et al., 2015). Work by the members of the Dodo Research Programme, a multidisciplinary international team of scientific experts, has provided an unparalleled detailed insight into the world of the dodo (in this memoir see Rijsdijk et al., 2015). Crucially, for the present contribution, it was found that the marsh does not contain any articulated skeletons, but rather disassociated skeletal elements of dodos and other Mauritian vertebrates. ...
