Ancient turtle sex fossilized - first known case of animals with backbones found copulating in fossils -
Fossil turtles have been caught having sex, the first known case of animals with backbones found copulating in the fossil record, researchers say.
The mating turtles may have been caught in a death trap as they sank to deeper layers of the lake, where they were having sex nearly 50 million years ago, the researchers speculate. The lake's deep layers may have held deadly volcanic gases or other toxins.
Scientists made their discovery at the Messel Pit in Germany, which once was a deep volcanic crater lake in a wet, tropical environment. The pit was a quarry originally mined for the oil in the shale there; but over the years, it has become the richest site in the world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, the epoch between 57 million and 36 million years ago when mammals began conquering the planet. Animals there included early horses, reptiles, primates, honeybees, giant ants and countless birds and bats.
Researchers focused on 47-million-year-old specimens of an extinct turtle (Allaeochelys crassesculpta) found at the pit. These were rather small turtles, about 20 centimeters (8 inches) long. "They would have looked very similar to their closest living relative, the pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) from New Guinea and Australia, just much smaller," said lead researcher Walter Joyce, a fossil turtle expert at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
"The turtles likely ate anything they found swimming near the surface of the lake — mostly insects, small crustaceans and fruit," Joyce added. "We do not have any evidence of predation of adult turtles, but it is likely that they had to look out for the crocodilians that lived in the same lake."
Past analysis suggested this ancient species and its vanished kin lost almost all the scales on their bodies. Like their closest living relatives, these extinct turtles may have been able to absorb oxygen from the water through their skin, helping them remain submerged for prolonged amounts of time.
Intriguingly, a number of these fossil turtles were found in pairs. Now Joyce and his colleagues found these reptiles were apparently couples that perished while having sex in a deadly abyss.
"We are finding animals that died while mating," Joyce told LiveScience.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/19/coitus-interruptus-ancient-turtle-sex-fossilized/
Fossil turtles have been caught having sex, the first known case of animals with backbones found copulating in the fossil record, researchers say.
The mating turtles may have been caught in a death trap as they sank to deeper layers of the lake, where they were having sex nearly 50 million years ago, the researchers speculate. The lake's deep layers may have held deadly volcanic gases or other toxins.
Scientists made their discovery at the Messel Pit in Germany, which once was a deep volcanic crater lake in a wet, tropical environment. The pit was a quarry originally mined for the oil in the shale there; but over the years, it has become the richest site in the world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, the epoch between 57 million and 36 million years ago when mammals began conquering the planet. Animals there included early horses, reptiles, primates, honeybees, giant ants and countless birds and bats.
Researchers focused on 47-million-year-old specimens of an extinct turtle (Allaeochelys crassesculpta) found at the pit. These were rather small turtles, about 20 centimeters (8 inches) long. "They would have looked very similar to their closest living relative, the pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) from New Guinea and Australia, just much smaller," said lead researcher Walter Joyce, a fossil turtle expert at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
"The turtles likely ate anything they found swimming near the surface of the lake — mostly insects, small crustaceans and fruit," Joyce added. "We do not have any evidence of predation of adult turtles, but it is likely that they had to look out for the crocodilians that lived in the same lake."
Past analysis suggested this ancient species and its vanished kin lost almost all the scales on their bodies. Like their closest living relatives, these extinct turtles may have been able to absorb oxygen from the water through their skin, helping them remain submerged for prolonged amounts of time.
Intriguingly, a number of these fossil turtles were found in pairs. Now Joyce and his colleagues found these reptiles were apparently couples that perished while having sex in a deadly abyss.
"We are finding animals that died while mating," Joyce told LiveScience.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/19/coitus-interruptus-ancient-turtle-sex-fossilized/
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