De Clercq, M.

De Rijcke, M.

Hablützel, P.I.

Lambert, O.

Langeveld, B.

Missiaen, T.

Mol, D.

Post, P.

Vandegehuchte, M.B.

Vandorpe, T.

Open Marine Archive

-  46  -  
Oral presentation Science in the North Sea 
The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus): A distinctive member of the 
Pleistocene megafauna in Belgium 
Hablützel Pascal I.
1
, Langeveld Bram
2
, De Clercq Maikel
3
, Post Post
2
, Mol Dick
2
, Vandorpe Thomas
1
, De 
Rijcke Maarten
1
, Lambert Olivier
4
, Missiaen Tine
1
 and Vandegehuchte Michiel B.
1
 
1
  Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Wandelaarkaai 7, 8400 Oostende, Belgium  
 E-mail: pascal.hablutzel@vliz.be 
2
  Natural History Museum Rotterdam, Westzeedijk 345, 3015 AA Rotterdam, The Netherlands 
3
  Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University, 
Krijgslaan 281, 9000 Gent, Belgium 
4
  Directorate Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue de Vautier 29, 
1000 Bruxelles, Belgium 
 
The southern North Sea is one of the most productive Pleistocene fossil-bearing localities worldwide, 
including megafauna such as woolly mammoth, steppe bison and giant deer. Historically, the majority 
of the bone material has been collected accidentally by bottom trawlers who sold or donated it to 
museums and private collectors. In 2017 and 2018, three scientific campaigns were conducted to the 
Scheur, a site in a navigation channel off the coast of the Zeebrugge harbor (Belgium). The collected 
fossils could be assigned to glacial and interglacial stages and to both marine and terrestrial Late 
Pleistocene faunas. In particular, a high amount of bones and bone fragments of juvenile and adult walrus 
(the modern Odobenus rosmarus) were recovered. The exceptionally good preservation of these fossils 
suggests lack of secondary transport, indicating an on-shore colony where walrus remains could 
accumulate over a longer period. Since these fossils were collected by beam trawling, the finds lack a 
precise stratigraphic context and no age determination has been performed on the bones yet. However, 
previous studies on similar findings of Late Pleistocene walrus in the Netherlands offshore area revealed 
age estimates of < 50 ka. This young age seems implausible since because at that time, terrestrial 
conditions prevailed in the southern North Sea. As the modern walrus is a cold-adapted species occurring 
in arctic and sub-arctic climate regions, an occupation of the Belgian palaeo-shoreline, which only occurs 
during interglacials, seems unlikely. Recently however, palaeo-landscape reconstructions of the Belgian 
Continental Shelf demonstrated that a regional lag in sea level high-stand occurred during the Last 
Interglacial (Eemian). This lag appears to be caused by post-glacial subsidence of a glacio-isostatic 
forebulge between East Anglia and Belgium. As such, the land masses might have continued to ‘sink’ 
simultaneously with the Last Glacial sea level fall (Weichselian Early Glacial), enabling prolonged marine 
to near-coastal conditions on the Belgian Continental Shelf while temperatures already deteriorated 
towards glacial values. This could have resulted in favorable conditions for walrus colonies along the 
Belgian palaeo-shoreline. Investigations of deep sediment cores that will be taken near the Scheur site in 
the summer of 2018 will reveal further information about the landscape in this period and whether this 
would indeed have been a suitable habitat for Pleistocene walruses. 
 
Keywords: southern North Sea; palaentology; palaeolandscape; marine mammal  
 
 
  


The walrus (<i>Odobenus rosmarus</i>): a distinctive member of the Pleistocene megafauna in Belgium

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/318172.pdf

The walrus (<i>Odobenus rosmarus</i>): a distinctive member of the Pleistocene megafauna in Belgium

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