New Valley University Discovers Giant Prehistoric Sea Turtle

A fossil of a giant leatherback sea turtle dating back approximately 66 million years has been identified in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis, marking the first documented discovery of its kind from the Cretaceous period in Africa.

The find, documented by researchers at New Valley University, was published in the international journal Cretaceous Research.

The specimen adds to the fossil record of both Egypt and the wider continent, providing evidence of large marine reptiles that existed during the final phase of the age of dinosaurs.

The remains also point to a tropical marine environment that once covered parts of southern Egypt, where large sea-dwelling organisms thrived before the mass extinction event.

The research team applied modern vertebrate palaeontology methods to analyse and document the fossil, contributing new data to the understanding of marine ecosystems in North Africa during the late Cretaceous period.