May 17, 2012 Picture a turtle the size of a Smart car, with a
shell large enough to double as a kiddie pool. Paleontologists
from North Carolina State University have found just such a
specimen -- the fossilized remains of a 60-million-year-old
South American giant that lived in what is now Colombia. The
turtle in question is Carbonemys cofrinii, which means "coal
turtle," and is part of a group of side-necked turtles known as
pelomedusoides. The fossil was named Carbonemys because it was
discovered in 2005 in a coal mine that was part of northern
Colombia's Cerrejon formation. The specimen's skull measures 24
centimeters, roughly the size of a regulation NFL football. The
shell which was recovered nearby -- and is believed to belong to
the same species -- measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7
inches, long. That's the same height as Edwin Cadena, the NC
State doctoral student who discovered the fossil. "We had
recovered smaller turtle specimens from the site. But after
spending about four days working o