Giant turtle takes onlookers by surprise

TURNED TURTLE: Peter Steen compares his 1.8 metre height with the giant turtle???s 2.5 metre length, although the camera angle makes him look bigger.

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A giant turtle astounded onlookers at Muriwai Beach.

The 2.5 metre long, one metre high and 1.5 metre wide turtle, believed to be a leatherback, had not long been dead when Linda and Peter Steen of South Head found it on Monday morning north of the beach’s Rimmer Rd access.

"It’s the first time I’ve seen a sea creature that big," Mrs Steen says. "I have seen a green sea turtle before but it was much smaller." She believes the turtle, which she was unable to identify, had only been dead a few hours. It was among huge numbers of dead sprats and bluebottle jellyfish washed up at Muriwai after a storm.

"It had a shell like an armadillo," Mrs Steen says. She says a forestry patrol picked up the turtle.

- © Fairfax NZ News