Fossils of âTurtle Chomper,â 40-Foot Crocodile, Join Titanoboa Exhibit
Fossils of a species of crocodile that may have been about 40 feet in length arrived at the Florida Museum of Natural History, 3215 Hull Road, Gainesville, on Friday.
Nicknamed âTurtle Chomper,â the specimen is estimated to be about 60 million years old. It was found more than a year ago at the CerrejĂłn coalmine in Colombia.
The lower jaw, ribs and other parts of the fossil arrived to the museum in safety material to protect the fossils. It took about a year for the fossils to arrive.
The process of opening the material is slow and tedious because the museum doesnât want to harm the fossils, said Jonathan Bloch, vertebrate paleontology curator for the museum.
The fossils are opened in a âprep labâ that is part of Titanoboa: Monster Snake, an exhibit of the discovery of Titanoboa, a 48-foot, 60-million-year-old snake.
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