When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The broad-shelled river turtle (Chelodina expansa) falls into a group known as side-neck turtles.

Turtles are famous for their shells, but this feature is far more than a protective covering. A turtle’s shell is actually fused to its skeleton, meaning its ribs and spine became part of a living ...

Shell integration typically involves 50 to 60 individual bones fusing into a permanent structural cage. The carapace creates a mechanical constraint that prevents the chest from expanding during ...

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 ...

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 ...

A 90-million-year-old fossil discovery in New Mexico has just revealed abrand-new species of turtle, shaking up what we thought we knew about ancient reptiles. This rare find from the mysterious ...