Australian Cowturtle

Meiolania is from Greek for small roamer.

The most recent known stem-turtle is Meiolania, which is thick, domed, protective, and covered in large, bony horns pointing backward. It resembles Triceratops in that it is long, armored, and ends with a structure that resembles a club (like a miniature Ankylosaurus tail). One of the more well-known Meiolania species, Meiolania brevicollis, is identified by the fossils such as incomplete heads, neck vertebrae, horn cores, osteoderms, and shell remnants. Even though this is less than what is known for the type species, it nevertheless enables comparisons that go beyond horn size and shape.

Meiolania had strong limbs and a skeleton that could support weight, and it was mostly terrestrial. Meiolania were unlikely to travel great distances since they lacked aquatic adaptations like flippers. However, island dispersal might be explained by passive rafting on vegetation mats, and their slow, deliberate locomotion seemed appropriate for land. Their main "ability" was strong defense and Meiolania used their clubbed, spiked tails as a mace to fight off predators and competing males when they were threatened.

As a herbivore, Meiolania consumed fruits, shrubs, low plants, and hardy vegetation. Meiolania, however, also consumes live small animals or carcasses as an alternate food source. During the Miocene, no hominids made it to Australia until the Pleistocene. Crocodiles, marsupial lions, and pythons are Meiolania's primary predators. Due to the presence of Austronesians, both Meiolania species are unsafe for turtles in New Caledonia and Norfolk Island during the Pleistocene to Holocene. Since Meiolania platyceps is the first apex predator on Lord Howe Island, there are no natural predators on this island.

Meiolania laid large, spherical aragonitic eggs (a rare mineral for fossil eggs) in excavated hole nests on beaches or in soft soil.

Meiolania's prehistoric behavior are the main topics of my discussion. These stem-turtles are quiet, cautious, instinctive animals that depend on routine, temperature control, and environmental awareness, much like giant tortoises. The horns and frills allude to intricate display behaviors or intraspecific conflict (males battling for mates). Meiolania would not have been "aggressive" toward people because they are slow-moving herbivores, but Meiolania have been hazardous if provoked. Sadly, the Lapita people in particular saw them only as a source of food. Meiolania leg bones found in Vanuatu's archaeological "middens" (garbage heaps) indicate that they were hunted and killed.

• Overhunting: For the island species (Meiolania sp.), humans were the primary cause. They were wiped out within ~200 years of human arrival.

• Climate Change: On mainland Australia, the species likely vanished due to the gradual drying of the continent and loss of habitat during the Pleistocene.

While most species of Meiolania were recovered from islands, Meiolania brevicollis is the only named species from mainland Australia. Its fossils were discovered at the "Blast Site" near Camfield Station in the Northern Territory. It is thought to be a part of the Bullock Creek Local Fauna, dating to the middle to late Miocene and thus making it the oldest named Meiolania species.

During The Recollections of Queen Arianna (TROQA) saga in the 2600s and 2700s, the "Sky People," or Terrans from Earth, brought Meiolania sp. to two exoplanets that resembled Earth: Berbania from Ursa Major and Reinachos from Cygnus. Despite the death of our planet, conservation efforts are helping this species recover from endangerment or near extinction. Meiolania became an invasive species as a result of human interactions for game hunting and rewilding. In two exoplanets that resembled Earth, Meiolania sp. lived in conditions and climates identical to those of Earth.

• Movement Pattern: Not Migrant

• Individual Type: Solo

• Population Trend: Stable

• Population: 

  • Earth: 0

  • Berbania: 0-12

  • Reinachos: 4,000

• Locomotion: Amphibious

• Habitat: Temperate Coniferous Forests; Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests; Temperate Deciduous Forests; Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Subtropical Coniferous Forests; Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Stone Forest; Tropical Coniferous Forests; Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Grasslands; Tropical Savannas and Shrublands; Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub; Deserts and Xeric Shrublands; Badlands; Flooded Grasslands and Savannas; Swamp; Bayous/Billabongs; Riparian; Wetland; Mangrove Forest; Cold Bamboo Forests; Tropical Bamboo Forests.

• Earth: 

  • Extinct: Australia

With the possible exception of a few islands where people may have come across and hunted it in the late Holocene, Meiolania is extinct and has never interacted with humans. Its vast size and terrestrial habitat would make it an uncommon pet in our universe; space, nutrition, and conservation requirements would make it unsuitable as a household animal.

Bereshit - 75,000 BCE

The First Civilization, also known as the Isu race, which had been hunting ground sloths for sport from prehistoric times on both Earth and Everrealm, wiped them out before Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure series and the sequels related to Rapunzel. Since the Lord Howe Island is inaccessible to the First Civilization, Meiolania platyceps was excluded from the game known as venationes, unlike the majority of Pleistocene animals that were incorporated into the game during the Bereshit era. Only two species of Meiolania will be included in venatio.

2025 Renders

Coming soon

• The first Meiolaniformes Ognimdo has ever drawn.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiolania

• https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/bobby_darin_314968?src=t_turtle 

• https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Meiolania

• http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=253379

• https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005780107

• https://www.mindat.org/taxon-8768424.html

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Meiolania-mackayi-1249647876