Tuesday 22 May 2012

Car-Sized Turtle Found In Colombian Coal Mine

Excavating in a coal mine in Colombia, paleontologists have discovered the fossil of the world's largest turtle, a 60-million-year-old specimen nearly 8 feet long - the size of a small car. If you were to stand it up, it's 5 foot 7 inches, just shorter than the average male.

And that's just the shell. Its skull is about the size of a football and was equipped with massive jaws that allowed it to eat almost anything. The remains of the turtle, called Carbonemys cofrinii, were found in a Colombian coal mine by a team of NC State researchers.

1 comment(s):

Gareth said...

That's one big turtle, but it certainly isn't the size of a small car. Surely the Smart for Two is so small it hardly qualifies as a small car and even that if 8' 10" long. A foot longer than the turtle.