Archelon has been known for a long while, and was much larger.
Posted on 05/18/2012 6:35:17 AM PDT by C19fan
Picture a turtle the size of a Smart car, with a shell large enough to double as a children's pool. Paleontologists from North Carolina State University have found just such a specimen – the fossilised remains of a 60-million-year-old South American giant that lived in what is now Colombia. The turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means 'coal turtle', and it is part of a group of turtles known as pelomedusoides. The specimen's skull measures 24 centimeters, and the shell, which was recovered nearby and is believed to belong to the same animal - measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches, long.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That’s a lot of soup!
Archelon has been known for a long while, and was much larger.
In other news, Pres__ent Obama announced that all adults will be mandated to buy a SmartCar the size of a turtle.
Yes it is a new species post-Cretaceuous
If it was a snapping turtle it could eat a smart car.
Yup. A three wheeler, just like the turtle.
One word: gravity..... It's a fairly easy demonstration that the larger dinosaurs could not function in present gravity. There are different theories as to why gravity might have been different in ancient times.
At least in terms of this turtle and Titanoboa the rain forest they lived in were much warmer than say the Amazon forest is enabling these cold blooded reptiles to grow much bigger than anything in the Amazon today.
At least in terms of this turtle and Titanoboa the rain forest they lived in were much warmer than say the Amazon forest is enabling these cold blooded reptiles to grow much bigger than anything in the Amazon today.
Federal Land; can't touch 'em. So they erode away.
Maybe they were 'light in the loafers' (which might help explain why they died out...)
It is turtley enough for the turtle club.
We're in the Era of Obama, where everything must be New!, and Hip!, Awesome! Children are no longer taught anything, so as to make it seem like everything old is New!
LOL Very cute
“Gravity is solely a function of mass”
That’s incorrect. There is also the gravitational constant. Can we be certain that has never changed?
As crazy as that sounds, I have often wondered if gravity would have a big impact.
The Earth adds mass continually from space dust and meteors;
The Earth gains mass each day as a result of incoming debris from space. You may have even seen evidence of this activity in the form of a 'falling star', or meteor, on a dark night.While the actual amount of added material depends on which study you look at, an estimated 10 to the 8th power kilograms of in-falling matter accumulates every day. That seemingly large amount, however, IS insignificant compared to the Earth's total mass of almost 10 to the 25th power kilograms.
In other words, Earth adds an estimated one quadrillionth of one percent to its weight each day. I don't know of any counteracting mass LOSS mechanism of any consequence.
I have never done the numbers to figure out how much gravitational impact that would be on large animals and vegetation.
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