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

The sea creature arrived at San Diego's Birch Aquarium in 2014 Ingrid Vasquez is a Digital News Writer at PEOPLE. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor in Journalism.

Following is a transcript of the video. Narrator: A turtle's shell is as much a part of its body as our rib cage is of ours. In fact, it is their rib cage, and their spine, and their vertebrae, and ...

When it comes to hunting, Steve Stortz is passionate and a traditionalist. He hunts waterfowl over hand-carved wooden decoys, rejecting newfangled mechanical spinning-winged decoys. He prefers a bow ...

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 ...

Following is a transcript of the video. Narrator: From blistering hot deserts to deep blue oceans, from frozen ponds to swampy wetlands, animal species have adapted and evolved in unique ways. Let's ...

In the past decade, scientists have discovered the fossilized remains of two prehistoric turtles that had a partial shell, but that lacked the toothless beak of modern turtles. Recently, however, a ...

There are a couple of key features that make a turtle a turtle: its shell, for one, but also its toothless beak. A newly-discovered fossil turtle that lived 228 million years ago is shedding light on ...

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 Clearwater, Florida, infant who was born with a growth on his back was dubbed “little Ninja Turtle” by his parents, as it resembled a “turtle shell.” James McCallum, 19 months, was given the ...