10 million years ago, turtles could eat you with a single bite. the world’s largest turtle that roamed South America 10 million years ago – the Stupendemys Geographicus
10 million years ago, turtles could eat you with a single bite. the world’s largest turtle that roamed South America 10 million years ago – the Stupendemys Geographicus
Stupendemys is an extinct genus of freshwater side-necked turtle, belonging to the family Podocnemididae.
it is the largest freshwater turtle known to have existed, with a carapace over 2 meters long. its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the Middle Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 13 to 5 million years ago.
male specimens are known to have possessed bony horns growing from the front edges of the shell and the discovery of the fossil of a young adult shows that the carapace of these turtles flattens with age.
a fossil skull described in 2021 indicates that Stupendemys was a generalist feeder.
Nonamesleftughhh on
Giant Ninja Turtles you say!
iDontRememberCorn on
If you were a foot tall, maybe.
slaysghosts on
Cowabunga it is
wolfkhil on
Snap. If humans existed 10 million years ago, I wonder where we would sit on the food supply chain. We definitely would not be an Apex predator.
redcurrantevents on
From the picture I assumed we were just looking at an average Australian turtle species.
Phlowman on
Who the fuck names these things? Why can’t it be something fun like giant killer turtle?
leelmix on
It doesnt take a big or even medium one to put your toes in danger so that one i would stay far away from.
Pkrudeboy on
Now we just need 4 miniature elephants…
BasicAstronomer128 on
But the bible says the world is only like 6-10 thousand years old…
manofdacloth on
Can he run fast enough to catch a human?
One_Mega_Zork on
How much more nutritive was Earth to support all of these gigantic creatures?
dagobahh on
So you’re telling me Gamera was real?
Environmental-Elk-65 on
CamBearCookie on
Where is Carlos for scale? I don’t understand the magnitude without Carlos.
16 Comments
Stupendemys is an extinct genus of freshwater side-necked turtle, belonging to the family Podocnemididae.
it is the largest freshwater turtle known to have existed, with a carapace over 2 meters long. its fossils have been found in northern South America, in rocks dating from the Middle Miocene to the very start of the Pliocene, about 13 to 5 million years ago.
male specimens are known to have possessed bony horns growing from the front edges of the shell and the discovery of the fossil of a young adult shows that the carapace of these turtles flattens with age.
a fossil skull described in 2021 indicates that Stupendemys was a generalist feeder.
Giant Ninja Turtles you say!
If you were a foot tall, maybe.
Cowabunga it is
Snap. If humans existed 10 million years ago, I wonder where we would sit on the food supply chain. We definitely would not be an Apex predator.
From the picture I assumed we were just looking at an average Australian turtle species.
Who the fuck names these things? Why can’t it be something fun like giant killer turtle?
It doesnt take a big or even medium one to put your toes in danger so that one i would stay far away from.
Now we just need 4 miniature elephants…
But the bible says the world is only like 6-10 thousand years old…
Can he run fast enough to catch a human?
How much more nutritive was Earth to support all of these gigantic creatures?
So you’re telling me Gamera was real?
Where is Carlos for scale? I don’t understand the magnitude without Carlos.
More like two bites