This may be the biggest turtle that ever lived: This jaw-droppingly huge specimen is the largest known complete turtle shell on Earth.

Live Science ^ | February 13, 2020 | Laura Geggel

[C19fan]

An 8-million-year-old turtle shell unearthed in Venezuela measures nearly 8 feet (2.4 meters) long, making it the largest complete turtle shell known to science, a new study reported.

This shell belonged to an extinct beast called Stupendemys geographicus, which lived in northern South America during the Miocene epoch, which lasted from 12 million to 5 million years ago.

S. geographicus weighed an estimated 2,500 lbs. (1,145 kilograms), almost 100 times the size of its closest living relative, the Amazon river turtle (Peltocephalus dumerilianus), and twice the size of the largest living turtle, the marine leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), the researchers wrote in the study.

[C19fan]

Not sure why people are calling this the largest turtle in history as Archelon, marine turtle from the Cretaceous, is estimated to have weight around 4,500 lbs.

[kaktuskid]

OMG it’s Gamera!

[Magnum44]

[Chauncey Gardiner]

That’s a lot of soup

[Telepathic Intruder]

Real live war turtles. I knew they had to exist.

[bigbob]

They should name it Mitch.

[\/\/ayne]

Gammra! Friend Of All Children!

[ShadowAce]

This can’t be the largest turtle ever—everyone knows that the earth itself rests on the back of a turtle, and it’s turtles all the way down.....

[Ezekiel]

This shell belonged to an extinct beast called Stupendemys geographicus...

Extinct? What's in a name? T is for "Turtle":

Or tortoise... because everyone knows how/why he ends up winning. ;)

People even make fun of his hare, can you believe it?

[Magnum44]

For real. Where's a flat-earther when you need one?

[PeterPrinciple]

The species likely achieved its colossal size thanks to the warm wetlands and lakes in its habitat, Sánchez noted.

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Global warming will bring it back.......................

[Bob434]

link

[gcparent]

Only turtle I care about is Mitch.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

[Daffynition]

Toonses!

[smvoice]

ROTFLOL!!!

[Daffynition]

Sorry, Toonces.

[LegendHasIt]

Nah, The Great A'Tuin is much much larger.

[Robert DeLong]

It was 15 feet from head to tail, 13 feet from flipper to flipper and 4,900 pounds.

[SunkenCiv]

Stupendemys geographicus, sounds like a Harry Potter thing. Thanks C19fan.