An 11-year-old boy found a 48-million-year-old fossil turtle in Wyoming, now being studied and possibly displayed publicly.

Eleven-year-old Touren Pope found a 48-million-year-old fossilized turtle shell in southwest Wyoming while rockhounding with his grandparents. The well-preserved carapace, from the soft-shelled trionychid family, was discovered in the Greater Green River Basin, once a tropical floodplain. Reported to the Bureau of Land Management, the fossil was excavated in September 2025 by museum specialists and volunteers, including Touren. It is now being studied and cleaned at the Tate Geological Museum in Casper, with potential public display. Touren named the specimen “Little Timmy,” highlighting the personal connection behind the scientific discovery.