Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A turtle from Antactica?

OK, not a live one. But 45M years ago, back in the Eocene, Antarctica was much warmer than today. Among its fauna, as documented by this recent find, were turtles. No modern turtles, or any other reptiles or amphibians, live on or near the southern continent. The only turtle that's really cold-adapted is the massive sea-going leatherback, which is seen high in the northern latitudes.

No comments: