A film crew from France was in the museum this morning working on an upcoming documentary. They used a drone to get video footage of our high-hanging, life-sized sculpture of the largest side-necked turtle, Carbonemys cofrinii, which is currently on display in our Discovery Room. Paleontologist Jon Bloch and Alex Hastings watched the filming.

The Carbonemys cofrinii is called the “coal turtle”, first discovered in a coal mine in Columbia in 2005. The fossil shell is approximately 5 feet 7 inches long, and the skull is almost 9.5 inches long. They were the size of a small car and lived around 60 million years ago, in a time and region where gigantism was fairly common for species.

Jon Block and Alex Hastings look on as a drone films our Carbonemys cofrinii sculpture.

Jon Block and Alex Hastings look on as a drone films our Carbonemys cofrinii sculpture.

Jon Block and Alex Hastings look on as a drone films our Carbonemys cofrinii sculpture.

Florida Museum photos by Jeff Gage