The Arctic Snow Turtle
February 2, 2009
This article: Tropical Turtle Fossil Discovered in the High Arctic on Wired prompted the memory of an image I worked up for a Christmas card in the late 1990′s.
A strikingly preserved tropical turtle fossil discovered in the Canadian High Arctic is giving scientists a look into an ancient, carbon-dioxide-warmed world.
The freshwater turtle, dubbed Aurorachelys, was an Asian species that researchers believe migrated across the North Pole 90 million years ago as temperatures were peaking. The find suggests that animals moved into North America via a polar route rather than around Alaska, as was previously believed.
