| Show ANCIENT swamp ANIMALS fossil turtles some of them not ss than three million and others even million years old have recent elieen been found in san juan county othern or thern new mexico remains or of extinct turtles are rather common lut lit most ot of them consist of many niall mall pieces badly crushed and ilat flat ened or otherwise damaged the nar kable feature of many of bitely biely discovered in new mexico is hat the bony boxlike box like shell Is at al lost as perfect as when it w was as mccu led by the body of the living animal aring the tertiary and cretaceous erious ierio ds no less than 50 specimens vere perfect enough to be identified nd lid described by specialists of the ignited states geological survey de ariment arl ment of the interior sixteen ot of hem are new to science and haie he been given new names A comparison of these shells with hose of living turtles shows that the collection consists entirely ot or swamp and river turtles con cottoning conla tonIng no strictly land turtles the little ones are about 6 inches long bul bui ome of the largest ineas nicas nearl nearly y 30 indies inches in the same rocks with the upper cretaceous turtles there are ara found fragments of those strange reptiles rep tilLS s known as dinosaurs four diffrient kind k I 1 n d s flesh eating duckbilled duck billed horned and armored wore were identified the armored dinosaurs nearly complete skeletons of which have been found in montana and canada were the most bizarre animals thu the world has ever known they were nvere stocky short legged big bodied boded creature completely incased encased in bouy bony armor flat plates covered the back and hips the neck was prote protected eted by transverse rings of bone placed one behind another and the belly was covered by a mail like mosaic ot or small bony plates even the eyes were provided with bony shutters like the visor on a helmet which were closed down over the eyeballs sye balls in times of danger |
