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Shell-shocked scientists dig up ancient turtle orgy

Swiss and German palaeontologists have dug up fossils of turtles literally caught in the act at a German site – the first time fossilised vertebrates having sex have ever been found.

Shell-shocked scientists dig up ancient turtle orgy
Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt

Nine pairs of ancient turtles – Allaeochelys crassesculpta – were found in the Messel Pit fossil site near Frankfurt, which millions of years ago was a prehistoric volcanic lake whose deeper waters are thought to have been poisonous.

It looks as if the amorous turtles started their love sessions in shallow waters, but sank into the deeper, toxic waters and died while still mating, turtle expert Walter Joyce told The Local.

“It is very surprising to find vertebrates fossilised like this. You often find insects caught in amber while mating, but vertebrates have not been found like this before,” said Joyce, a US palaeontologist at Tübingen University.

“If one dies during mating, the other would usually move away. But here both died at the same time and they were preserved while in the act – it’s amazing.”

He said of the tens of thousands of fossils found in the Messel Pit, only these 18 turtles were found in pairs. They date back to the early Eocene period – about 47 million years ago.

“I assumed they were fighting or something, and when I first considered that perhaps they were mating, I thought, no way,” he said. “But I took a close look at all of them, it blew me away that two pairs in particular were amazingly well preserved.”

He said the tails of the males, which contain what he called the “intermittent organs” – penises – could be seen tucked under the shells of the females in two of the pairs.

“Two of the pairs were still engaged, while the others were within a foot of each other,” he said.

This enabled conclusive identification of the males and females – something which had previously not been possible.

The males are smaller than the females, and the pairs were mating in open water, which Joyce said means that the females would have chosen their mates. This in turn suggests there was courting behaviour of some kind.

Inferences can also be drawn about the behaviour of the fossilised turtles’ closest living relatives – pig-nosed turtles which are found in Papua and some areas of Australia, said Joyce.

“They are surprisingly similar to those from the Eocene period – but the current ones are much bigger. We know little about them as they live in low-land swampy areas, which are difficult to get to. We are in the odd situation that we know more about the fossilised kind than about the living ones.”

The German-Swiss team which found the fossils was drawn from universities in Tübingen and Zurich as well as scientists at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt and the Hesse state museum in Darmstadt.

They and Joyce published their findings in the current issue of science journal Biology Letters.

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SCIENCE

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for ‘ingenious tool for building molecules’

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, responsible for awarding the Nobel Physics and Chemistry Prizes, has announced the winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Peter Somfai, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, announces the winners for the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Peter Somfai, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, announces the 2021 winners. Photo: Claudio Bresciani

The prize this year has been awarded to Germany’s Benjamin List and David MacMillan from Scotland, based in the US.

The Nobel Committee stated that the duo were awarded the prize “for their development of a precise new tool for molecular construction: organocatalysis”. The committee further explained that this tool “has had a great impact on pharmaceutical research, and has made chemistry greener”.

Their tool, which they developed independently of each other in 2000, can be used to control and accelerate chemical reactions, exerting a big impact on drugs research. Prior to their work, scientists believed there were only two types of catalysts — metals and enzymes.

The new technique, which relies on small organic molecules and which is called “asymmetric organocatalysis” is widely used in pharmaceuticals, allowing drug makers to streamline the production of medicines for depression and respiratory infections, among others. Organocatalysts allow several steps in a production process to be performed in an unbroken sequence, considerably reducing waste in chemical manufacturing, the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

The Nobel committee gave more information in a press release as to why List and MacMillan were chosen: “Organocatalysis has developed at an astounding speed since 2000. Benjamin List and David MacMillan remain leaders in the field, and have shown that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions. Using these reactions, researchers can now more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells. In this way, organocatalysts are bringing the greatest benefit to humankind.”

List and MacMillan, both 53, will share the 10-million-kronor prize.

“I thought somebody was making a joke. I was sitting at breakfast with my wife,” List told reporters by telephone during a press conference after the prize was announced. In past years, he said his wife has joked that he should keep an eye on his phone for a call from Sweden. “But today we didn’t even make the joke,” List said. “It’s hard to describe what you feel in that moment, but it was a very special moment that I will never forget.”

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