Discover what’s inside a turtle shell, living bone fused to spine and ribs, packed with organs, muscles, and nerves that ...

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 half-shell turtle species that swam in China's coastal waters 220 million years ago is the oldest turtle known to date, a new analysis of fossils reveals. The turtle had a belly shell, but its back ...

"They show now how developmental steps [in the turtle] could have led to this initial formation" of the turtle's shell. In addition to the overt peculiarity of the turtle's shell, or carapace -- which ...

It’s a debate that’s left more than a few scientists shell-shocked: Just how did the turtle come to acquire its unique suit of armor? Some have insisted for decades that the turtle’s carapace evolved ...