Unveiling the mystery of the origin of turtles

Scientists believe that turtles are more closely related to crocodiles and birds than to lizards and snakes.

Turtles are closely related to birds and crocodiles. Photo:AFP.

The ancestors of turtles evolved between 200 and 300 million years ago. Their evolution has been controversial in the scientific community because studies of their physiology and genes have shown that they belong to two different branches.

"The evolutionary origin of turtles has led us to misunderstand the evolution of vertebrates," scientists from Boston University, USA, asserted in an article published in Biology Letters, a journal of the Royal Society of England, on May 16.

Nicholas Crawford, an expert at Boston University, claimed that he and his colleagues had found the evolutionary origin of turtles. "Our genetic research has shown that turtles are more closely related to birds and crocodiles," Crawford told AFP.

The expert said that the previous confusion arose from the fact that turtles share physical characteristics with lizards and snakes. For example, their hearts both have three chambers.

According to Express-T