Researchers uncover fossil of biggest turtle that ever lived

13 Feb 2020

Researchers uncover fossil of biggest turtle that ever lived

Researchers uncover fossil of biggest turtle that ever livedA while ago, we read about the leatherback turtle which is the largest living turtle.

However, it is small compared to the biggest turtle species that existed - it was the size of a car!

Scientists have unearthed fossils of this turtle called Stupendemys geographicus in Colombia and Venezuela in South America.

When and where did this turtle exist?

The turtle inhabited a huge wetland across northern South America (before the Amazon and Orinoco rivers were formed) between 13 and 7 million years ago.
 	Some of its fossils had first been discovered in the 1970s but the new additional discoveries are helping scientists understand it better.

What did it look like?

It was about 4 metres in length and likely lived at the bottom of lakes and rivers alongside giant crocodiles.
 	Its diet consisted of small animals, vegetation, fruit and seeds.
 	The males of the species had forward-pointing horns on either side of its shell which they used for fighting.
 	Scientists believe that its large size helped it to defend itself from predators.

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