Most giant tortoise in the world: Scientists have made a shocking disclosure about the fossil of a giant tortoise found in Spain. Scientists say that earlier, there was a belief about giant turtles that they are found only in the sea area of North America. However, the reality is different from this.
Scientists said that this unknown turtle found in Spain is the giant sea turtle ever found in Europe. In the beginning, scientists used to think that this turtle was some other animal.
According to CNN, the remains of the turtle were found in 2016 by a climber on Mount Pirni in Spain. This species of turtle was named Leviathanochelys aenigmatica. Due to its large size, this turtle was called a ‘Sea Monster’.
Now a report has been published in ‘Nature’ regarding this turtle. The report has said that in prehistoric times it was ubiquitous to have turtles of such colossal size.
It has been estimated from the fragments of bones that the length of these turtles of Leviathanochelys species used to be about 3.7 meters (12.1 feet), almost equal to a sedan car.
Albert Salles, who was involved in the study, said we did not expect such a thing to be found. After analyzing the bones, we realized that the features found in this species are entirely different. It is completely different from all the turtle fossils found to date. Seles said that in the beginning, many researchers thought that these were the bones of some other animal other than the turtle.
5 Feet Turtle Has Been Found In Europe!
According to the Smithsonian Institute, before this discovery, the species of turtle found in Europe had the most extended recorded length of 1.5 meters (5 feet), like the Leatherback sea turtles found in today’s time. The weight of these turtles used to be between 300 to 500 kg.
Tortoise Used To Be Of 15 Feet Too!
Based on records, the longest turtle was Archelon, found about 70 million years ago. Its length used to be 4.5 meters, i.e. 15 feet.
