WEBVTT - Were Turtles Once the Size of Cars?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here. Some of our favorite

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<v Speaker 1>animals used to be bigger. The giant beaver of the

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<v Speaker 1>Pleistocene was the size of a black bear, and the

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<v Speaker 1>Titana boa was a snake longer than a school bus

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<v Speaker 1>and as big around as a tractor tire. There were

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<v Speaker 1>hippo sized wombats, humongous sea scorpions, and birds of prey

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<v Speaker 1>the size of small jets. We still have some giants today,

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<v Speaker 1>like the blue whale, but the largest organism currently living

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<v Speaker 1>on earth is a fungus that stretches some two point

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<v Speaker 1>four miles that's three point eight kilometers underground in Oregon.

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<v Speaker 1>But new research published in February in the journal Scientific

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<v Speaker 1>Advances beefs up our picture a stupendamous geographicus, a giant

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<v Speaker 1>freshwater turtle the size of a sensible four door sedan,

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<v Speaker 1>which lived in the coastal wetlands of South America between

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<v Speaker 1>five and ten million years ago before the Amazon River

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<v Speaker 1>was formed. The study found that the turtle was one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred times heavier than its closest modern relative and had

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<v Speaker 1>the largest carapace or shell of any turtle ever known.

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<v Speaker 1>This whopping two thousand, five hundred pound goliath that's one thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and fifty kilos was also ready for battle.

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<v Speaker 1>Some carapaces were tricked out with front facing horns sitting

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<v Speaker 1>on both sides of their head, something scientists haven't seen

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<v Speaker 1>before in prehistoric turtles. Marcello Sanchez, director of the Paleontological

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<v Speaker 1>Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich, said in

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<v Speaker 1>a press release. The two shell types indicate that two

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<v Speaker 1>sexes of Stupendibus existed, males with horns shells and females

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<v Speaker 1>with hornless shells. Their shells were also covered in big

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<v Speaker 1>scars and puncture marks, suggesting a few things about Stupendibus.

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<v Speaker 1>These big brutes were fighters. The males and females did

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<v Speaker 1>look different, and the males might have even fought each

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<v Speaker 1>other for access to the females. The horns could also

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<v Speaker 1>have come in handy in fighting off another unspeakably hefty

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<v Speaker 1>freshwater animal, the purse sourus, which was a cayman, a

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<v Speaker 1>group of reptiles related to alligators that weighed nine point

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<v Speaker 1>three tons and required ninety pounds or forty kilos of food. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>just to get by all those dependumous geographicus was first

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<v Speaker 1>described in the mid nineteen seventies. The current study has

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<v Speaker 1>revised what we know about the size, anatomy, distribution, and

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<v Speaker 1>ecology of this turtle beast. Because the vast wetlands of

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<v Speaker 1>prehistoric Venezuela and Colombia could support such a heavy duty

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<v Speaker 1>team of reptiles, Stupendamous and Parasaurus probably duked it out

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<v Speaker 1>until their ecosystem could no longer support either. Let this

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<v Speaker 1>be a lesson to us all. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Jocelyn Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other really big topics, visit

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of

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