Scientists have found the remains of an ancient tortoise surviving a massive extinction

60 million years ago, in the lands of Laurasia, which was located on the territory of the current northern hemisphere, there was a

a cataclysm that made everyone extinctdinosaurs and more than 70% of life on the planet. Scientists have been arguing for many years what the matter is - some defend the theory of a meteorite fall, others argue that the cause of the mass extinction is the eruption of supervolcanoes.

Spanish paleontologists claim to have foundthe only animal that fully survived the mass extinction in the northern hemisphere. They became a primitive land turtle Laurasichersis relicta. Her remains were found in caves in France.

The length of Laurasichersis relicta was about 60see. Like other primitive reptiles, she could not drag her neck into her shell to hide her head from predators. This physical limitation allowed Laurasichersis relicta to develop other defense mechanisms, such as armor with large, interconnected spikes, which were solid structures located on the neck, legs and tail.

The reason Laurasichersis survivedmass extinction, while none of the other primitive North American, European or Asian land turtles could do this, remains a mystery.

Perez Garcia, author of the work         

In this case, after the cataclysm on Earth also remainedMayolanid turtles on the territory of Gondwana in the Southern Hemisphere - and they have long been considered the most ancient turtles, the descendants of which survived to this day.

Despite this, turtles appeared on Earthmore than 160 million years ago. Now the extinct genus Laurasichersis relicta developed separately from the line of turtles of Gondwana, from which it separated 100 million years ago.