100 Million Year Old Turtle Remains Found

By Algonkin in Animals & Pets, Science & Tech on Jan 4, 2008 at 7:53 pm

In China’s Henan province, a local resident found the remains of a turtle that is belived to be around 100 million years old according to an expert from a local institute. Reports also says that the organic remains were discovered in a river in Jiaxian, located in Pingdingshan City.

The turtle organic remains are around 15 centimeters long and seven centimeters wide, and weigh one kilogram. The fossil still has all four limbs and its tail, but lacks a head.

Source: english.cri.cn

Tags: Archeology, Fossil

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VonSkippy
Jan 4th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Wow, with science like that, the “local expert” should hook up with the Mythbusters.
owen
Jan 5th, 2008 at 12:03 am
Oh sure, they say it’s ‘organic’, but it’s from China. It’s probably just full of lead.
Christophe
Jan 5th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I’m surprised that they did not make a chinese dish out of it…
Crudely Wrott
Jan 5th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Sure it has a head. It’s just pulled in as turtles do.
Nicholas Dollak
Jan 5th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Despite the recent scandal of manufactured Chinese “fossils,” China is still yielding plenty of legitimate fossils. Modern turtles and tortoises may be descended from chelonians, fossils of which have been found that are at least 200 million years old. Interestingly enough, like sharks, these reptiles have remained virtually unchanged all that time.

A 100-million-year-old turtle fossil is not a new discovery, although it may be the first or oldest fossil found of a particular species of turtle, or the best-preserved specimen. As for its head, it could have been bitten off, but more likely it was pulled inside, since the rest of the body is intact. Nice fossil!
Alex
Jan 6th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Turtle was around 100 million years ago?
VonSkippy
Jan 6th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
@Alex
I wondered that too.

According to Wikipedia:
“the earliest known turtles being from around 215 million years ago, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups, and a much more ancient group than lizards and snakes. “

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