Paleontologists confirm it. Giant tortoise fossils have been found in the Colombian Andes. They are dated at 57 million years old.
The discovery allows us to better understand the connectivity of the aquatic environments of northern South America. It is special, during a part of the geological time known as the Paleocene and Eocene. It occurred between 66 and 23 million years ago, according to scientists.
1.5 meter turtle
Giant tortoise fossils in the Andes appeared in the municipality of Socha, Boyacá. They correspond to giant tortoises about 1.5 meters long of a species known as Puentemys mushaisaensis. Previously it had only been found in the rocks of the Cerrejón Coal Mine.
This discovery extends the biogeographic occurrence of this extinct turtle to the south, hundreds of kilometers from the Caribbean Sea. It also indicates an identical composition of both paleofaunas (Cerrejón and Socha). This includes P. mushaisaensis and other vertebrates currently under study. The findings support the existence, during the Paleocene-Eocene, of a broader ecosystem. There were no major geographic barriers with connectivity between coastal and more internal continental regions in northern South America.
This created a faunal corridor. Not only did it facilitate the migration of these vertebrates. It also, along with warmer conditions, supported the development of a large herpetofauna. This is stated in a statement by Universidad del Rosario professor Edwin Cadena, who led this research.
Scientific tourism
The study of the new fossils of the turtle Puentemys mushaisaensis has been published by the magazine of the Argentine Paleontological Association PeAPA. It is the result of joint work between one of the leaders of the Socha community, the painter Byron Benítez. He is the one who found most of the fossils in this area, along with paleontologists and geologists from Colombia and the United States.
This discovery joins several recent ones made by paleontologists in the Department of Boyacá. They make it one of the areas of the country of great importance for the development of plans for the protection and management of paleontological heritage. This would allow for global recognition and, in turn, promote scientific tourism in Colombia.
