It’s pretty awkward when you walk in on your parents; imagine how the archaeologists felt when they walked in on these turtle fossils dating back to the Eocene epoch. Nine pairs of these copulating long-extinct reptiles were found in the Messel Pit in Germany. This must have been some party!
A number of fossils have been discovered over the years in the Messel Pit, a disused quarry near the city of Franfurt, nothing quite this raunchy has been discovered, however. In fact, these turtles are the first vertebrates ever to be found copulating. Scientists are baffled as to why there were so many pairs of turtles bonking at the same site.
The specimens found were quite obviously in the mating process when they perished. Talk about a bummer. All these poor turtles were trying to do was get their freak on; but it wasn’t a good day for turtles, evidently. Let this be a lesson to turtles (and everything else) everywhere: Choose a better place to bone than a toxic sludge pit.
(via The Huffington Post)
Published: Jun 22, 2012 12:35 pm