It's a long-held idea that turtles can tuck their heads into their shells when threatened. But is it true? And is this protective trick why turtles the world over have shells today? The answer is that ...

Ever consider the question of whether a turtle can truly pull its head into its shell like a cartoon representation in a ...

An artistic rendering shows an early proto turtle Eunotosaurus (foreground) burrowing into the banks of a dried-up pond to escape the harsh arid environment present 260 million years ago in South ...

Hans-Dieter Sues - Curator, Paleontology, National Museum of Natural History In a fit of pique, according to one of Aesop's fables, the god Hermes made the animal carry its house forever on its back.

A turtle’s shell makes for a great portable home, offering a huge amount of protection to the animal living inside. But this carapace is nothing more than an evolutionary byproduct of another ...

How smushed shells could help to resolve paleontological mysteries. By Asher Elbein You never know where a bit of unusual scientific research is going to lead. Consider a 2012 study about turtle ...

Reporting from San Diego — Just in time for the holidays, a loggerhead sea turtle at Birch Aquarium in La Jolla got a perfectly fitting gift. The turtle, rescued in 2013 with a broken shell and ...

Repair of injured turtle shells can be difficult and time-consuming. This article describes how to manage the freshwater turtle in this phase of healing and how to keep fracture sites 'water-free'.