An ancient turtle egg resembling a tennis ball was found in China

On the territory of the Chinese province of Henan, a fossilized egg was discovered, inside of which there was a rare ancient turtle that was about to hatch. The region where the fossil was found is also known for the eggs of dinosaur fossils, reports CBC.ca.

Scientists from the Department of Paleontology of the University of Calgary, Canada, believe that the egg belonged to a giant turtle of the extinct family Nanhsiungchelyidae, its representatives lived in Asia and North America. In the Cretaceous period, these turtles were contemporaries of the dinosaurs and died out with them.

According to experts, the female who laid the egg reached more than 1.6 m in length, it was larger than the Galapagos turtle, although its shell was flatter. The ancient turtle lived only on land.

The fossil is the size and shape of a tennis ball, perfectly round, with a shell the same thickness as an ostrich egg.

The egg was very well preserved, which allowed the researchers to take an X-ray with a CT scanner and reconstruct the turtle's skeleton in 3D.

The researchers were also able to identify entire nests of identical turtle eggs found elsewhere. These turtles laid 15 to 30 eggs at a time.