<h1>The mythical super giant turtle has really survived on Earth! </h1>
Picture note: The old shrew riding the four Tang monks and apprentices, the picture comes from the Internet
In the mythological story "Journey to the West", there are various rare and strange beasts, including an old shrew, which drove the Tang monks and disciples across the Tongtian River and ensured that everyone took the Western Scriptures. Everyone knows that the old shrew is a legendary creature, but there is really a giant turtle as big as the old shrew on the earth, and it is a terrifying turtle.
<h1>South American megacap</h1>
Image note: Lush South America, picture from the internet
South America is a magical continent that has bred many huge reptiles in the Cenozoic Era, including the famous 14-meter-long Titan Python and the 10-meter-long Prussian crocodile. In the 1970s, paleontologists discovered a huge and intact fossil turtle shell in the Urumaco Formation formation in Venezuela, which was measured to be 2.35 meters long and wide in width. Paleontologist Wood published a paper in 1976 titled "Stupendemys geographicus, the world's largest turtle," naming the genus Stupendemys and the model species name Stupendemys geographicus.
In 2006, paleontologists in Brazil named the second species of the turtle genus, Stupendemys souzai, based on fossils found in the westernmost brazilian state of Acre, but in terms of size, the size of the turtle is not as large as that of the pattern species.
To be clear, on many websites, the scary turtle is called the giant side-necked turtle because it belongs to the family Lateral-necked turtle. In fact, the lateral-necked turtle family is a living animal, and its scientific name is "Podocnemididae", which is not the same or similar to the scientific name of the turtle, so it uses the Wikipedia translation.
<h1>The largest turtle</h1>
Image note: A giant turtle shell with a length of 3.3 meters, the picture comes from the internet
As mentioned earlier, paleontologists have found a 2.35-meter-long turtle shell, but this is not the largest. According to incomplete fossils, the shell of the turtle is 3.3 meters long and 2.18 meters wide, according to the incomplete fossils(UNEFM), which is the abbreviation of the Universal Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda, Chinese farmised by the National Experimental University of Francisco de Miranda). If you add the head and tail, this turtle is about 5 meters long and weighs about 6 tons.
Illustration: Comparison of the size of the turtle and humans, the picture comes from the Internet
Illustration: A cartoon of the scary turtle with humans, the picture comes from the Internet
The largest turtle turtles that live on Earth today are the Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys), which are nearly 2 meters long and weigh about 600 kilograms. The ancient giant turtle introduced earlier is the largest sea turtle in the history of the earth, and this animal that lived in the Cretaceous period can reach 4 meters in length and weigh about 2.2 tons. Before the discovery of the turtle, the ancient giant turtle was the largest turtle turtle. Although in terms of body size, the ancient giant turtle is not much smaller than the scary turtle, but the turtle has a thick and hard turtle shell, which is much harder and heavier than the "armor" with hard leather on the ribs of the ancient giant turtle.
Image note: Today's largest sea turtle, the leatherback turtle, the picture comes from the Internet
Illustration: Huge ancient giant turtle, picture from the network
Image note: Ancient giant turtle compared with humans, picture from the network
In appearance, the turtle resembles a side-necked turtle, with a flat head, a long neck, and a large and strong shell with lines and shallow ridge-like protrusions. The turtle has short limbs and webbing between its claws to facilitate swimming in the water, with a short tail behind it. When the side-necked turtle is in danger, its head is shrunk into the shell of the turtle, and the neck is exposed sideways in front of it, and the turtle should be like this.
Image note: Giant side-necked turtle, picture from the internet
In terms of taxonomy, the turtle belongs to the family of side-necked turtles, and today's largest side-necked turtle is the giant side-necked turtle (Podocnemis expansa), which lives in South America, and the dorsal carapace is 75 cm long, which can be regarded as a "miniature version" of the turtle.
<h1>Giant crocodile biscuits</h1>
Picture note: The ecological restoration of the turtle, the picture comes from the network
Image note: A scary turtle living in prehistoric South America, picture from the Internet
The turtle lived in central and northern South America, between 9 and 5 million years ago, from the late Miocene to the early Pliocene. Judging from the formations in which the fossils were found, the turtles live in ponds or slow-flowing rivers in the rainforest, spending most of their time in the water, feeding mainly on plants. The animals that live with the turtles are large numbers of fish, reptiles, and small mammals. It should be mentioned here that in the Urumaco Formation formation where fossils of the ground-striped turtle were found, paleontologists found a giant rodent called Phoberomys, which is 3 meters long and weighs 700 kilograms.
Image note: Huge rodent Phoberomys, image from the web
Despite its large size and hard shell on its back, the turtle still has a predator: the terrifying Purussaurus. The Prussian crocodile is more than 10 meters long and weighs more than 5 tons. The head of the Prussian crocodile is 1.5 meters long and 1 meter wide, the bite force of the mouth reaches 7 tons, and the thick conical teeth are very suitable for biting the hard shell of the turtle. The Prussian crocodile may not be able to crush the hard shell of an adult turtle, but biting the hard shell of a juvenile turtle is not a problem, just like eating a biscuit.
Picture note: Prussian crocodile with a huge head, picture from the Internet
Image note: Comparison of the size of the Prussian crocodile with that of humans, picture from the Internet
The turtle is currently the largest known turtle turtle on the earth, that is, the largest turtle, its huge size is comparable to the mythical giant turtles that can carry people across the river!
<h1>Further reading:</h1>
<h1>The Song of the Western Inland Sea - the ancient giant turtle</h1>
https://www.toutiao.com/i6302184653402948098/
<h1>The giant crocodile of South America, the Prussian crocodile</h1>
https://www.toutiao.com/i6295114140197323265/
Resources:
1.Wood, R. C. (1976). "Stupendemys geographicus, the world's largest turtle". Breviora. 436: 1–31.
2.Bocquentin, Jean; Melo, Janira (2006). "Stupendemys souzai sp. nov. (Pleurodira, Podocnemididae) from the Miocene-Pliocene of the Solimões Formation, Brazil" (PDF). Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 9 (2): 187–192.
3.Aguilera, Orangel A.; Riff, Douglas; Bocquentin‐Villanueva, Jean (2006). "A new giant Purussaurus (Crocodyliformes, Alligatoridae) from the Upper Miocene Urumaco Formation, Venezuela". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 4 (3): 221–232. doi:10.1017/S147720190600188X. ISSN 1477-2019.
4.Aureliano, Tito; Ghilardi, Aline M.; Guilherme, Edson; Souza-Filho, Jonas P.; Cavalcanti, Mauro; Riff, Douglas (2015). "Morphometry, Bite-Force, and Paleobiology of the Late Miocene Caiman Purussaurus brasiliensis". PLOS ONE 10 (2): e0117944. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117944. ISSN 1932-6203.
5.Hay, O. P. 1908. The fossil turtles of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication No. 75, 568 pp, 113 pl.
6.Wieland, G. R. 1896. Archelon ischyros: a new gigantic cryptodire testudinate from the Fort Pierre Cretaceous of South Dakota. American Journal of Science, 4th Series 2(12):399-412, pl. v.