An Aldabran giant tortoise from the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean, feeding on algae. A new study suggests these giant tortoises might once have been hunted by giant, prehistoric crocodiles. Credit Dennis Hansen/University of Zurich, Switzerland
Today Aldabra Atoll, part of the Seychelles, is predator free, but a recent discovery of a fossilized jaw bone gives some insight to what really preyed on the Aldabra Tortoises.
Dr. Hansen found about 180 fossils near a pond on the atoll. One was a jawbone of an ancient crocodile that he first thought was a tortoise longbone. But when he turned it over he saw it had holes where teeth could fit. He sent some of the fossils to his colleague Torsten Scheyer, a paleontologist also at the University of Zurich, for further examination.
The size of the fossil opens up a whole new chapter to the history of the area.
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