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A SHELL OF ITS FORMER SELF

Ancient Pregnant Tortoise Excavated at Pompeii

Researchers think the animal was trying to find a safe place to lay an egg when Mount Vesuvius erupted.

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Pompeii Archeological Park

The remains of a 2,000-year-old pregnant tortoise have been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii. Researchers believe the animal was probably looking for a place to lay its egg under a building that had been destroyed in an earthquake in 62AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. “The whole city was a construction site, and evidently some spaces were so unused that wild animals could roam, enter and try to lay their eggs,” Pompeii’s director general, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, told the BBC. The six-inch creature was buried under volcanic ash and rock until archaeologists found it.

Read it at BBC

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