A research by Dr. Edwin Cadena, professor and researcher of Yachay Tech, was published in the renowned journal Geology of South America, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, revealing that the giant land turtles that live today in the Galapagos Islands, had relatives near and slightly larger, inhabiting in the Andes, from northern Colombia to southern Bolivia around 13 million years ago.

The new fossil discovery occurred in Bolivia, in the locality called “Quebrada Honda”. The research conducted at these fossils of giant land tortoises and some small freshwater also allowed them to conclude that some regions of the Altiplano were at a lower elevation than had been traditionally considered by at least one 1 kilometer below than previously estimated.

When we asked if a fossil chain of giant turtles was found in the Ecuadorian Andes, he says yes, and now Yachay Tech paleontologists together with Escuela Politécnica Nacional are working on it, as well as discover of new fossils that reveal the history of Ecuador’s biodiversity through millions of years.