Tracks in the limestone on Monte Cònero seem to have been left behind by multiple sea turtles fleeing from an earthquake nearly 80 million years ago. Rock climbers in northern Italy have stumbled upon an extraordinary paleontological find: fossilized evidence of what scientists believe was a massive sea turtle stampede dating back 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous period. Identifying Which Sea Creatures Left The TracksThe fossilized tracks, preserved in what was once a prehistoric seabed, include what appear to be both flipper marks and body impressions from multiple turtles. The Earthquake That Caused The Sea Turtle Stampede“The footprints probably represent a stampede of panicking sea turtles that were mobilized en masse by an earthquake,” the study claims. After reading about the prehistoric sea turtle tracks found in Italy, look through these vintage illustrations of sea creatures.