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 ...

Turtle shells evolved over the course of 300 million years, but self-defense wasn't the initial driver, researchers think.

When we picture sea turtles in the wild, it's easy to envision them as armored warriors—their hard, resilient shells serving as near-impenetrable shields against oceanic threats like sharks. These ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

The shells of chelonians—think turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles—grow in layers, keeping a time-stamped record of environmental conditions. Uranium has shown up in the layers of turtles’ and ...

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 ...