Othenio Abel (b. Vienna, June 20, 1875 -- d. Mondsee, Upper Austria, July 4, 1946) was a battling Austrian paleontologist. Together with Louis Dollo, he was the founder of paleobiology and studied the life and environment of fossilized organisms. From 1917 - 1934 he was a university professor in Vienna and later headed the Institute of Paleontology at the University of Göttingen. He also explored the Drachenhöhle cave at Mixnitz.

The dwarf elephant theory to explain the Cyclops was first thought of in 1914 by Othenio Abel.