Friday, June 22, 2012

At least they died with smiles on their faces

Click to enlarge
Scientists working at the Messel Pit in Germany have discovered a pair of turtles fossilized in the act of doing the horizontal hula. As reported in the Live Science article Coitus Interruptus: Ancient Turtle Sex Fossilized:
The mating turtles may have been caught in a death trap as they sank to deeper layers of the lake, where they were having sex nearly 50 million years ago, the researchers speculate. The lake's deep layers may have held deadly volcanic gases or other toxins.
  

2 comments:

KurtP said...

I admit that I didn't read the entire article, but how would dissolved toxins affect air breathing reptiles?

Like I said, I didn't read it all and may have miss the Darwinian dead-end of turtles with gills.....

ambisinistral said...

The article says that the turtles have permeable skin which helps them breathe underwater.