Extinct Giant Turtle Discovered in South America, Weighing 1 Ton and 3 Meters Long, with Bite Marks on Shell
Recently, a team of paleontologists in South America were digging, their goal was to find the 'ancient beast,' or extinct large animals. They dug left and right, and they didn't disappoint, they unearthed a turtle shell, specifically like a wall-sized shell.
500 years ago, South America part of the region was a sea kingdom, compared to the modern ocean, everything was very large at that time, such as the Stupendemys geous giant turtle of the distant era, which was 3 meters long and weighed 1.1 tons. We temporarily call it 'S Turtle'
'S Turtle' is a very ancient species, living in the South American swamps between 500 and 1000 thousand years ago, as early as 1970, archaeologists found their remains, but after that, there were few news about this prehistoric giant beast
Recently, researchers at the University of Zurich, jointly with experts from Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil, discovered a striking 'S Turtle' shell fossil in the fossil pits of Venezuela and Colombia
From this shell fossil, 500 years ago, this 'S Turtle' was twice the size of a human, its shell alone was as big as a car
Lead researcher Marcelo Sánchez said: 'Some 'S Turtles' shells can reach 3 meters, making it the largest, or the largest ever discovered turtle'
Experts estimate that this 'S Turtle' weighed 1145 kilograms, which is 100 times the weight of its close relative, the Amazon River turtle
Researchers noticed that this 'S Turtle' has horns on its shell, while some 'S Turtles' shells did not have horns, the two types of shells indicate that they have gender differences, males have shell horns, and females do not have shell horns
In addition to the horn-like spikes, what is most interesting to archaeologists is that there are bite marks and bone fractures on the fossil, which may indicate the death of this 'S Turtle'. Scientists believe that although the 'S Turtle' is very large and looks impenetrable, it was still hunted by larger carnivorous animals, and it is currently unknown who was the culprit that caused the death of this 'S Turtle'
Regarding this discovery, Sánchez summarized: 'Based on the research on S Turtles, we now know that some river turtles from the Amazon region are the closest living relatives of them. They are of the same kind'
What happened in 500 years led to the 'S Turtle' family becoming smaller? Scientists can't say the mystery, currently many Amazon river turtles are raised as pets, they are only the size of a palm, and they lazily swim in human fish tanks, but their ancestors 'S Turtles' were not only dominating the seas, at least they could roam the seas, and this ancestor and descendant are indeed very different
Note: Amazon river turtles are not Brazilian turtles, the Brazilian turtle is actually the Mississippi red ear turtle in North America
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