{"id":77114,"date":"2024-09-24T16:56:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T16:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname"},"modified":"2024-09-24T17:34:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:34:18","slug":"scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Give Fossilized Baby Turtle Pokemon-Inspired Nickname"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>A fossilized animal specimen, previously thought to be a plant, evoked memories of the popular video game for a pair of researchers.<\/p>\n

Renewed scrutiny of decades-old fossils from Colombia has resulted in a surprising discovery: specimens previously thought to be from plants have been found to actually be the remains of baby turtles.<\/p>\n

The findings were published recently in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. Fabiany Herrera and his student He\u0301ctor Palma-Castro of the Field Museum in Chicago had undertaken an examination of fossils unearthed between the 1950s and 1970s in Colombia. The specimens were collected near the town of Villa de Levya by Catholic priest Padre Gustavo Huertas.<\/p>\n

A subset of the fossils, appearing to represent the leaves of plants, were classified by the priest in 2003 as belonging to the plant species Sphenophyllum colombianum.<\/p>\n

But the classification didn\u2019t quite sit right with Herrera and Palma-Castro. For one, Huertas\u2019 specimens were Early Cretaceous rocks dating back to the time of the dinosaurs, some 132 to 113 million years ago. But all other known species of the genus Sphenophyllum died out over 100 years before then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent days searching through wooden cabinets for fossil plants,\u201d said Palma-Castro, recounting the pair\u2019s efforts to study the unusual specimens. \u201cWhen we finally found this fossil, deciphering the shape and margin of the leaf proved challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at it in detail, the lines seen on the fossils don\u2019t look like the veins of a plant \u2013 I was positive that it was most likely bone,\u201d said Herrera.<\/p>\n

Upon closer examination, Herrera and Palma-Castro discovered the fossils actually originated from hatchling turtles between 0 and 1 years old. Turtles\u2019 shells are thin and fragile at that early stage of development, meaning it\u2019s uncommon to find such fossilized remains. That makes the pair\u2019s discovery rare and important for scientists in the field.<\/p>\n

Recalling a character from the Pokemon video game that\u2019s part-turtle, part-plant, researchers nicknamed the specimens \u201cTurtwig.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bIn the Poke\u0301mon universe, you encounter the concept of combining two or more elements, such as animals, machines, plants, etc.,\u201d said Palma-Castro. \u201cSo, when you have a fossil initially classified as a plant that turns out to be a baby turtle, a few Poke\u0301mon immediately come to mind. In this case, Turtwig, a baby turtle with a leaf attached to its head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn paleontology, your imagination and capacity to be amazed are always put to the test. Discoveries like these are truly special because they not only expand our knowledge about the past but also open a window to the diverse possibilities of what we can uncover.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers say they hope their discovery will prompt further investigation of fossils from Colombia and spark more interest in paleontology.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. A fossilized animal specimen, previously thought to be a plant, evoked memories of the popular video game for a pair of researchers. Renewed scrutiny of decades-old fossils from Colombia has resulted in a surprising discovery: specimens previously thought to be from plants have been found to actually be the remains of baby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":77113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-77114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nScientists Give Fossilized Baby Turtle Pokemon-Inspired Nickname - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A fossilized animal specimen, previously thought to be a plant, evoked memories of the popular video game for a pair of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists Give Fossilized Baby Turtle Pokemon-Inspired Nickname\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A fossilized animal specimen, previously thought to be a plant, evoked memories of the popular video game for a pair of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-24T16:56:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-24T17:34:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/09\/sm_1727186619.846829.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists Give Fossilized Baby Turtle Pokemon-Inspired Nickname\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-24T16:56:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-24T17:34:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/09\/sm_1727186619.846829.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/scientists-give-fossilized-baby-turtle-pokemon-inspired-nickname\",\"name\":\"Scientists Give Fossilized Baby Turtle Pokemon-Inspired Nickname - 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