Monster Sea Turtle Fossils Reunited, 160 Years Apart
- 10 years ago
In truly amazing news, the missing half of a huge sea turtle fossil was found over 160 years after the discover of the first piece.
In truly amazing news, the missing half of a huge sea turtle fossil was found over 160 years after the discovery of the first piece.
Also remarkable is that it was located in an area different than the one it’s been believed the original half came from.
The most recent part was found in the 75-million-year-old Cretaceous sediment of Monmouth County, New Jersey.
All this time, researchers have been going on the assumption that the chunk they had hailed from neighboring Burlington County.
Not surprisingly, the scientists couldn’t believe the good fortune, and went out of their way to try to prove that the two weren’t a perfect match.
In that endeavor, they were unsuccessful.
Now that the perfectly fitting pieces have been reunited, some fascinating facts about the sea turtle the bone came from are being revealed.
Among the most extraordinary is that given the size of the now complete arm bone, scientists believe that the creature was nearly 10 feet long.
Researchers are also excited that this time around they have solid information about where the fossil was found.
That will allow them to put together a more complete picture of what the area was like back in the age of the dinosaurs.
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In truly amazing news, the missing half of a huge sea turtle fossil was found over 160 years after the discovery of the first piece.
Also remarkable is that it was located in an area different than the one it’s been believed the original half came from.
The most recent part was found in the 75-million-year-old Cretaceous sediment of Monmouth County, New Jersey.
All this time, researchers have been going on the assumption that the chunk they had hailed from neighboring Burlington County.
Not surprisingly, the scientists couldn’t believe the good fortune, and went out of their way to try to prove that the two weren’t a perfect match.
In that endeavor, they were unsuccessful.
Now that the perfectly fitting pieces have been reunited, some fascinating facts about the sea turtle the bone came from are being revealed.
Among the most extraordinary is that given the size of the now complete arm bone, scientists believe that the creature was nearly 10 feet long.
Researchers are also excited that this time around they have solid information about where the fossil was found.
That will allow them to put together a more complete picture of what the area was like back in the age of the dinosaurs.
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