Family’s Fishing Trip Unearths 32-Million-Year-Old Turtle Fossil

An Alabama family’s walk by a river led to a “one-in-a-million” discovery: a 32-million-year-old turtle fossil.

The Coleman family enjoys fossil hunting—a tradition dad Adam once shared with his father and now carries on with his children and wife. While exploring the Alabama River in Clarke County a few years ago, his daughter Talah spotted a rock that looked “a little weird.”

It took nearly a year before they reached out and found the right person to examine and identify it. And when a paleontologist finally took a look, they realized it was a very rare find, an intact leatherback sea turtle. Even more remarkable, it turned out to be a never-before-discovered species.

A team returned to extract the fossil from the riverbank, with the Colemans on hand to help. The massive fossil weighed a full ton—so heavy it lifted the bow of the transport boat out of the water.

Because the fossil was found on Indigenous land, members of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians had the honor of naming it. They chose Ueloca, meaning “Water Turtle.” Alabama is considered the number one place in the United States for fossil discoveries, and this extraordinary find is now on display at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham.