Cartoons often suggest turtles wear shells like removable armor. Those stories show turtles stepping out, swapping shells, or treating them like clothing. Biology disagrees. A turtle shell is not an ...

Fossil tortoise at the Central Natural Science Collections at MLU. Credit: Markus Scholz / MLU The evolution of giant tortoises might not be linked to islands, as has previously been thought. In a ...

Turtles are famous for their shells, but this feature is far more than a protective covering. A turtle’s shell is actually fused to its skeleton, meaning its ribs and spine became part of a living ...