This one-ton turtle once ruled South America’s rivers — until a changing planet proved too much for even the largest ...

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.

One of the most telltale features of a turtle is its protective shell, and regardless of the species, most turtle shells are discernably similar. Despite what you might see on cartoons, a turtle’s ...

About five to 10 million years ago, giant turtles that dwarfed humans roamed freshwater swamps in South America. Researchers have uncovered shells belonging to Stupendemys geographicus, the largest ...

Dr. Universe: Why can’t sea turtles pull back into their shell? I was at the St. Louis Zoo, and they said tortoises and other turtles can pull back into their shells. – Tyler, 7, Missouri There are ...

A recent tragedy occurred in Indian River County, Florida when an elderly man tried to save a turtle. The reptile was slowly creeping across I-95 when an 87-year-old Vermont native attempted to help ...

Do turtle shells actually consist of modified ribs? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. This weird-but-true claim went viral in mid-June 2021 when Twitter user and post-doctorate turtle expert Ceri ...

A 260 million-year-old fossil has been determined to be the oldest ancestor of turtles found to date, revealing something about the reptile's mysterious past. Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, ...

In cartoons, when a turtle is spooked, it retreats into and closes up its shell. While used for comic effect, this imagery is based in fact — although not all turtles are capable of this protective ...

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 ...