MOBILE, Ala. — A family fishing trip in south Alabama led to the discovery of a 32-million-year-old leatherback sea turtle fossil, marking a significant find in the paleontological world. The fossil, unearthed by the Coleman family, represents a new genus and species, Ueloca colemanorum, and is one of the most complete fossils of its kind ever found.
Adam Coleman, his wife Adrienne, and their children, Talah and Corey, stumbled upon the fossil embedded in a limestone boulder during a fishing trip in 2021. “I’d never seen anything like it,” Adrienne Coleman said. The family kept the discovery a secret until Adam read about Dr. Andrew Gentry, a paleontologist in south Alabama, and reached out for help.
“When I saw the fossil for the first time, it was hard to believe what I was seeing,” Gentry said. The fossil’s intact shell, made of ossicles, is exceptionally rare due to the typical decay process of leatherback turtles…