The scholars themselves were really incredibly surprised by this. The reason? Recently a special and ancient species was discovered.
A special and ancient way – viaggio.nanopress.it
It's not just archaeological discoveries that caused a stir last year. The natural world also occupies scientists from all over the world. This often leads scholars to question many things they thought they knew. Like the one we are talking about today, which also tells us about something that comes from the past.
A special and ancient species surprises scholars
The natural world itself tests the scientific world every day. And in 2023 there were several discoveries in this area. New species have appeared, both animal and botanical, in short, scientists have a lot of work to do.
Let's talk about it this time a special and ancient species This had the virtue of rendering the same scholars who read it speechless. Let's talk about fossils. Yes, you heard that right, fossils. Discovered, cataloged and set aside for some time, they had been dismissed as plants.
In truth, nothing could be more wrong and the discovery was only made recently. They were not plants, although the shape was very reminiscent of that species, perhaps due to their appearance, which resembled the outline of a leaf. In reality, they are ancient animals, i.e. turtles, that even lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.
And that's not all, because the scientists involved in this project have already found a name for it Turtwig. Pokemon fans will certainly recognize this and it's no coincidence. This is a tribute to the manga character who is half plant and half turtle.
The History of the Turtwig Tortoise
It is the scientists themselves who narrate the discovery, in the words of spokesman Hector Paloma Castro, in the pages of the journal Paleontologia Electronica. In fact, it appears that the team first encountered these specimens and their shells in northwestern South America.
In fact, it was the first time the fossils were first found a Colombian priest, Father Gustavo Huertas. Turtwig's remains were located in the Paia Formation, a very important geological site in Colombia. It is already known for the presence of fossils attributed to dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, but also turtles, ancient crocodiles and pliosaurs.
The fossils were originally believed to be Sphenophyllum colombianum, but Castro and scientist Fabiany Herrera actually immediately recognized that the veins seen in the fossil were actually bones.
Turtwig's Fossil – travel.nanopress.it
Also to help him learn a paleontologist from Bogota, Edwin Alberto Cadena. It appears that the turtles were only a year old at the time of their deaths and that their shells were very thin. It appears that they shared a common origin with species from the Cretaceous period and even reached here At three meters long, it is an incredible size. And that will be the challenge of the next few weeks: figuring out how they got to such large dimensions. We'll know more soon.