Fossil Turtle

This is the fossilised shell (or carapace) of a turtle. If you look closely at the left of the specimen, you can see dozens of tiny barnacles encrusting the shell, as is common in modern turtles.

Turtles are one of the most successful animals in Earths history.
They evolved around the same time as the dinosaurs, 225 million years ago, and have thrived ever since.
This particular specimen is from the Early Eocene, making it around 50 million years old.

The carapace is infilled with a very hard rock which makes it difficult to determine if there are turtle bones inside, however it is likely there will be. Ideally one day this specimen will go to a specialist called a preparator who can remove this rock and determine if any of the skeleton has been preserved.