Car-sized turtle fossils unearthed

[Judi Lynn]

6 hours ago

Fossils of a turtle the size of a car have been unearthed in what is now northern South America.

The turtle - Stupendemys geographicus - is believed to have roamed the region between 13 and 7 million years ago.

The fossils were found in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert and Venezuela's Urumaco region.

The first Stupendemys fossils were discovered in the 1970s but many mysteries have remained about the 4-metre long animal.

It was about the size and weight of a saloon car and inhabited a huge wetland across northern South America before the Amazon and Orinoco rivers were formed.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51485011

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1. Baby Gamera?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Paleontologists Unearth Remains Of Car-Sized Prehistoric Turtle With Battle-Ready Features

By Inigo Monzon
02/13/20 AT 10:23 PM


Paleontologists from South America unearthed the fossils of a prehistoric turtle that was as big as a car. The scientists noted that the extinct animal was capable of battling against other large predators due to its unique features.

The discovered fossils belonged to a species of freshwater turtle known as Stupendemys geographicus. According to the researchers, this animal thrived during the Miocene epoch, a period that lasted 12 to 5 million years ago. It inhabited the systems of rivers and lakes in South America.

The paleontologists came across the remains of the extinct beast in the Tatacoa Desert in Colombia and the Urumaco region in Venezuela. The fossils mainly composed of shells that are about 3 meters long, making the animal as big as a standard sedan car.

Based on the size of the shells, the researchers estimated that the Stupendemys geographicus weighed about 1,145 kilograms. This means it’s 100 times bigger than the Amazon river turtle, which is its closest living relative.

More:
https://www.ibtimes.com/paleontologists-unearth-remains-car-sized-prehistoric-turtle-battle-ready-features-2922107

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'Largest turtle that ever existed' weighed more than a tonne and had an eight-foot HORNED shell that it may have used for combat 10 million years ago




More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7996213/Largest-turtle-existed-weighed-tonne.html