Question

dr digger, a paleontologist, finds a fossil that he describes in his journal. the creature was approximately 1 meter long, with its backbone fused into a large shell covering the body cavity. it had a beaklike mouth, without teeth, and all four limbs were in the form of flippers. based on anatomical similarities, to which modern animal is dr diggers creature most closely related? zebra snake bony fish sea turtle

Explanation:

• Zebra: Has teeth, no shell, and legs not in flipper form.
• Snake: No shell, no flippers, and different body structure.
• Bony fish: No shell, no backbone fused into a shell covering body cavity, and different limb (fin) structure compared to flippers.
• Sea turtle: Has a shell (carapace and plastron which can be thought of as a structure related to the backbone - derived from ribs and vertebrae in evolution), beak - like mouth (no teeth in adults in many cases), and flippers as limbs.

Answer:

sea turtle