Title: Fossil Tortoise (Stylemys nebrascensis)

Date: Tertiary Paleogene Period, Oligocene Epoch, ca. 35 million years ago
Location: Brule Formation (Nebraska, United States)
Size: 7” H x 21” L
Credit: Gift of Tom and Ken Ray, In Memory of their Father James Ray
On View: Yes

Stylemys was the first genus of land tortoises in the world. Unlike modern tortoises, Stylemys’s forelimbs were unsuitable for burrowing. However, other than that, the species looked more or less like today’s tortoises.

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