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 ...

Turtles belong to the most unique group of vertebrates, credit goes to their famous shells. While most people think of the shell as a shelter in the first place, it contains a lot of secrets related ...

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.

Francis Horne, a biologist who studies shell formation at Texas State University, offers this answer. The exoskeletons of snails and clams, or their shells in common parlance, differ from the ...

The fossilized remains of a bizarre-looking reptile are giving scientists new insights into how turtles got their distinctive shells. Some 240 million years ago, this early turtle-like creature lived ...

Turtle shells evolved over the course of 300 million years, but self-defense wasn't the initial driver, researchers think. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

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 ...