Weird 76-Million-Year-Old Turtle Had a Pig's Snout

Archaeologists have unearthed something unusual from Utah. They've found one of the strangest turtles to date: a pig-snouted turtle that existed 250 million years ago.

"It's one of the weirdest turtles that ever lived," said Joshua Lively, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It really helps add to the story emerging from dinosaur research carried out at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

The extinct turtle was about two feet long from head to tail when it was alive. It had a streamlined shell which was adapted for living in a riverine environment. In fact, about 76 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, the area where it lived in southern Utah looked more like present-day Louisiana, dominated by rivers, bayous and flood plains.

This wasn't the only species to have lived in the area. The turtle existed alongside tyrannosaurs, armored ankylosaurs, and other dinosaurs.

The most interesting feature that the turtle has is its broad snout, which includes two bony nasal openings. All other turtles have just one external nasal opening in their skulls; the division between their nostrils is only fleshy.

"With only isolated skulls or shells, we are unable to fully understand how different species of fossil turtles are related, and what roles they played in their ecosystems," said Randall Irmis, one of the researchers. This latest finding, though, shows an extraordinary amount of detail, which may help researchers link it to other fossils.

The findings are published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

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