--- title: Fossil of Bizarre Pig-Snouted Turtle Found in Utah description: A fossil of an extinct species of pig-snouted turtle was recently unearthed in Utah. canonical: https://time.com/4083220/pig-snouted-turtle-fossil/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-22T14:59:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:00:28.100Z article:section: Science og:title: Fossil of Bizarre Pig-Snouted Turtle Found in Utah og:description: The extinct turtle was about 2 feet long og:url: https://time.com/4083220/pig-snouted-turtle-fossil/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4af649ad55ffed2e/6988695e8e0601bcb5462f81/pig-snouted-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pig-Snouted-Turtle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fossil of Bizarre Pig-Snouted Turtle Found in Utah twitter:description: The extinct turtle was about 2 feet long twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4af649ad55ffed2e/6988695e8e0601bcb5462f81/pig-snouted-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fossil of Bizarre Pig-Snouted Turtle Found in Utah  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 22, 2015 2:59 PM UTC  An artist's interpretation of Arvinachelys goldeni, a species of extinct pig-nose turtle. An artist's interpretation of Arvinachelys goldeni, a species of extinct pig-nose turtle.Victor Leshyk  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 22, 2015 2:59 PM UTC An extinct species of pig-snouted turtle once lived in Utah, according to new research released Wednesday that examines a fossil of the species. The turtle lived alongside the dinosaurs 76 million years ago, and [according to Joshua Lively](http://news.utexas.edu/2015/10/21/extinct-species-of-pig-snouted-turtle-unearthed-in-utah), who studied the fossil for his master’s thesis at the University of Utah, “Anatomically, it’s one of the most bizarre turtles that ever lived.” That’s because the snout of the newly discovered turtle has two bony nasal openings, whereas all other known turtles just have one fleshy nasal opening in the skull. Lively[ published his findings](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2015.1009084?journalCode=ujvp20&) in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology this week, noting the extinct turtle was about 2 feet long, with a streamlined shell for living in a river environment. The climate of southern Utah during the Cretaceous period would have been wet and hot. The new specimen helps fill gaps in the understanding of turtle evolution. “With only isolated skulls or shells, we are unable to fully understand how different species of fossil turtles are related, and what roles they played in their ecosystems,” [said Randall Irmis](http://unews.utah.edu/76-million-year-old-extinct-species-of-pig-snouted-turtle-unearthed-in-utah/), curator of paleontology at the museum and associate professor at the University of Utah. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4083220/pig-snouted-turtle-fossil/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4083220/pig-snouted-turtle-fossil/"},"headline":"Fossil of Bizarre Pig-Snouted Turtle Found in Utah","datePublished":"2015-10-22T14:59:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:00:28.100Z","description":"The extinct turtle was about 2 feet long","url":"https://time.com/4083220/pig-snouted-turtle-fossil/","keywords":["animals","Environment","fossils"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4af649ad55ffed2e/6988695e8e0601bcb5462f81/pig-snouted-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4af649ad55ffed2e/6988695e8e0601bcb5462f81/pig-snouted-turtle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pig-Snouted-Turtle","caption":"Pig-Snouted Turtle","creditText":"Victor Leshyk","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4083220/pig-snouted-turtle-fossil/","name":"Fossil of Bizarre Pig-Snouted Turtle Found in Utah"}}]}] ```