Exploring the "giant turtle" option as an explanation for lake cryptids, I came across an article published in Science that mentions a giant sea turtle, the Atlantochelys mortoni
It was 3 meters from head to tail (10 feet) and looked something like contemporary loggerhead turtles. It swam in the oceans during the age of the dinosaurs some 70 to 75 million years ago.
Read the article here: Nadia Whitehead (2014). Stitched-Together Fossil Reveals Giant Prehistoric Sea Turtle. Science. 25 March, 2014.
It was part of the Protostegidae family of giant sea turtles that thrived during the Cretaceous period. They were the largest turtles that have existed. Some had heads 39 inches long (1 meter). They were carnivores, and became extinct during the asteroid collision event that wiped out the dinosaurs and large reptiles.
Gigantic Amazonian Turtle
However, closer to Patagonia and closer in time, a new species was described in 2024, the freshwater turtle known as Peltocephalus maturin. It lived between 40,000 and 9,000 years ago. Its shell measured 180 centimeters long (6 feet) making it one of the largest freshwater turtles that have existed.
Currently the Asian narrow-headed turgle (Chitra chitra) is the largest one, and it is still alive! It measures 140 cm (4 ft. 7 in.). The largest freshwater turtle in South America is the freshwater tortoise in the Amazon is the Arrau turtle (Podocnemis expansa), with 110 cm (3 ft. 7 in.)
They must have been hunted by the Paleoindians who reached the Amazon area at least 12,000 years ago. If they harvested the turtle's eggs, they would have put it under pressure and eventually led to its extinction.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall ©
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