World Largest Tortoise

World's largest Tortoise is located on the main drag of Joshua Tree California. Perhaps this largest is the tiniest of all "Largest" category. The sculpture is famous namely "Myrtle the Turtle".At first it was only a float, made of wood and wire framework with cement and plaster, and a thick enamel-type paint skin. Even the creator didn't know that this the largest tortoise sculpture in the world. The Sculpture was gifted to the Chamber of Commerce there, they were amazed to find out they had a World’s Largest.

The Leatherback Sea Turtle loves to feed on jellyfish, so much so that it follows the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean to the UK just to feast on them. If only they could find some peanut butter fish, they just might grow even bigger.

After undergoing an autopsy for scientific information, the skin was removed and preserved and a mould of the body shape was made. The preserved skin was stretched over the mould to produce a life-like pose. The skeleton was also removed and prepared for display alongside the body. The taxidermy mount and associated skeleton were then put on display in their own gallery, with linking displays on the leatherback’s history, threats, ecology and conservation.

After 16 years on display, significant cracks had started to appear on the specimen. There had long been problems with cracking, and it had been patched up over the years. Low humidity was identified as a cause, so there was no choice but to close the gallery and conserve this popular specimen properly.

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