Scientists study unhatched turtle egg believed to be laid 90 million years ago

Scientists and researchers across the world often unravel mysteries with their findings. More often than not such findings not only leave people guessing but also enhances the knowledge about a particular thing. Albeit a number of research and study by anthropologists and palaeontologists, the age of dinosaurs still remains an enigma for scientists across the world. Meanwhile, scientists are now studying an ancient turtle egg that was laid approx 90 million years ago when dinosaurs were very much part of the planet earth. This egg was found in 2018 by a Chinese farmer, in Henan province, who thought it to be a dinosaur's. The scientists say that the turtle laid many eggs with extremely thick shells and one of them could never hatch, however, they are not sure of what happened to other eggs.

'Turtle egg fossils are generally very rare'

It is the first time scientists have come to know about the dinosaur-era's giant turtle by analysing the egg and its rare embryo. Citing the findings, researchers believe that the turtle must have been about the size of a human. They also revealed that turtle egg fossils are generally very rare and soft eggs normally don't withstand the fossilization process as it requires specific conditions - but this egg was an exception. The study also found that the terrestrial turtle Yuchelys nanyangensis went extinct around 66 million years ago because they apparently fell victim to the dinosaur-killing asteroid that struck the earth. One of the scientists studying the egg said that looking at it and its size, his initial thought was the egg might have come from a new dinosaur species. But upon analysing deeply, it was found to be something rare - a turtle egg with an embryo. 

Egg's size is little smaller than a tennis ball

A CT scan was also conducted to see the embryo of the egg which found that it was developed by almost 85%. The eggs' size was measured to be 2.1 by 2.3 inches, a bit smaller than a tennis ball. The researchers say that it may have tried to hatch but failed. Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor of paleobiology at the University of Calgary in Canada, stated that turtles' strong shells helped them survive most of the cretaceous period but they found it hard to adapt to the extremely cold climatic conditions during the end of the period which led to their extinction. It should be mentioned here that China’s Henan province is quite famous for excavating a lot of fossils from the dinosaur period.

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