11-year-old finds 48-million-year-old turtle fossil in Wyoming

11-year-old Touren Pope finds 48-million-year-old turtle fossil in WyomingPhoto credit: Craig Thomas, BLM Rock Springs Field Office What began as a routine family rock-hounding trip in southwest Wyoming turned into a paleontological headline when 11-year-old Touren Pope noticed something unusual poking out of the ground. What he’d spotted was the fossilized shell of a softshell turtle that lived nearly 48 million years ago, preserved in the Bridger Formation of the Greater Green River Basin. After Touren and his grandparents reported the find to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), experts confirmed its significance and arranged a careful excavation. In recognition of his discovery, Touren was given the rare honor of naming the fossil. Here's the complete story, based on BLM and regional news coverage of the discovery:A keen eye on public landTouren Pope, a sixth-grader from Nevada, was visiting his grandparents in Wyoming in the fall of 2025 when the family set out to search for interesting rocks and minerals on BLM-managed land near Rock Springs. While scanning the ground, he noticed a dark, rounded object that didn’t look like an ordinary stone. Following the rules for vertebrat...