An enormous fossil of a turtle that walked the Earth about nine million years ago has been found by boffins.
They unearthed the huge relic – consisting of half a shell – during an expedition to a remote corner of the world.
The well-preserved fossil is 1.8 m (5’11”) wide and is estimated to have been a whopping 2.4 m (7’10”) long while still intact.
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It belongs to the extinct species Stupendemys geographica – the largest freshwater turtle known to have existed.
The astonishing find was made on the banks of Brazil’s Acre River, whose level is below 3 m (9’10”) at this time of year.
The stretch of river is located within the Cabeceira do Rio Acre indigenous territory, in Brazil’s Amazon basin, near the border with Peru.
The shell was found last Tuesday (17 Jun), in sediment layers dating back approximately nine millions years, placing it within the Late Miocene epoch, as reported by Need To Know.
The researchers involved in the discovery are affiliated to the Federal University of Acre (UFAC), the University of São Paulo, and the University of Campinas, all in Brazil.
Edson Guilherme of UFAC said: “This is the largest freshwater turtle that ever lived on Earth.
“Until now, only one similar shell had been found – in Venezuela. Now we have one here in Acre.”
The fossil will be taken to the university’s main campus in the Acre state capital, Rio Branco, where it will be analysed and later put on display.
Carlos D’Apolito Júnior of UFAC told local media: “Nothing like this has ever been seen – so large, so well preserved – so it’s a very important fossil for understanding the region’s palaeontology and the animals that lived in the past.”
