A 127 million-year-old fossil of a side-necked turtle, the first found to have lived in the UK, has been discovered on the Isle of Wight.
The fossil has been nicknamed 'Burby' after enthusiast Steve Burbridge who found it at Brook Bay on the southwest coast.
Palaeontologist Megan Jacobs, from the University of Portsmouth, analysed the fossil and confirmed it to be the earliest of the side-necked turtle.
The name comes from the turtle's reaction to feeling threatened - folding its neck into its shell sideways.
This defensive posture left them only capable of spying out of their shell with one eye.
The turtle fossil is an almost complete shell, with everything found except the skull.
Megan Jacobs said: “This is an amazing discovery because it’s the first time this type of turtle has been found in the UK.
“Even more exciting is that we used a new technique of radiometric dating to determine the age of the fossil beyond any doubt. And to top it off, CT scanning revealed all the tiny bones inside.
“It’s really incredible for what looks like a rolled beach pebble.”
Megan and her colleagues dissected minerals from inside the turtle shell fossil, which has been donated to the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown, and analysed them for uranium and lead.
The researchers also used cutting-edge micro CT scanning at the University of Portsmouth’s Future Technology Centre to find the various tiny bones.
Steve Burbridge said: “It’s beyond my wildest dreams to have one of my finds published.
"I could never have guessed it was such an incredibly important fossil. It’s so wonderful to see all the tiny bones inside too.”
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