{"id":28131,"date":"2014-05-28T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T19:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/wildwire\/?p=28131"},"modified":"2022-12-16T15:55:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T20:55:24","slug":"top-ten-facts-about-turtle-shells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/top-10\/top-ten-facts-about-turtle-shells\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Ten Facts about Turtle Shells"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Time to tally up the turtle trivia in this top ten that is filled with the latest shell styles from one of the coolest reptiles around!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">1) Most turtles can hide their head in their shells but some species, like the sea turtle, can\u2019t.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28132\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/in-turtle-shell.jpg\" alt=\"turtle in shell\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/in-turtle-shell.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/in-turtle-shell-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">2)\u00a0The word \u2018testudinal\u2019 means to resemble a tortoise or turtle shell.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28149\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/turtle-shell-close-up.jpg\" alt=\"tortoise shell closeup\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/turtle-shell-close-up.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/turtle-shell-close-up-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">3) Turtle shells have three main parts: the upper or top piece (carapace); the bottom (plastron); and the bridge that fuses the upper and lower pieces together.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28144\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/brazil-turtle.jpg\" alt=\"Brazil turtle\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/brazil-turtle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/brazil-turtle-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">4) A turtle\u2019s carapace, or upper shell, is flatter to help them swim while a tortoises\u2019 carapace is higher and dome-shaped.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_28137\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28137\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28137\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/tortoise.jpg\" alt=\"Giant Tortoise\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/tortoise.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/tortoise-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-28137\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tortoise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">5) The inner layer of a turtle\u2019s shell is made up of 60 bones, including their backbone, breastbone and ribs.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28139\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/inside-a-turtle-shell.jpg\" alt=\"inside a turtle shell\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/inside-a-turtle-shell.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/inside-a-turtle-shell-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">6) A turtle\u2019s shell is attached to their body. Turtles do not look for a bigger shell as they get bigger, instead the shell grows with the turtle.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28151\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/western-painted-turtle.jpg\" alt=\"western painted turtle\" width=\"600\" height=\"415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/western-painted-turtle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/western-painted-turtle-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/western-painted-turtle-100x70.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/western-painted-turtle-218x150.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>7) Most turtle shells are covered with hard scutes, also called shields, which protect the shell. These scutes are overlapping pieces of keratin (the same protein substance in your fingernail and the most abundant type of protein on Earth).<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28152\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/eastern-box-turtle.jpg\" alt=\"eastern box turtle\" width=\"600\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/eastern-box-turtle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/eastern-box-turtle-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>8) Softshell turtles, don\u2019t have scutes; their shell is protected with thick skin.<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28154\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/flordia-softshell-turtle.jpg\" alt=\"flordia softshell turtle\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/flordia-softshell-turtle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/flordia-softshell-turtle-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">9) The colour of a turtle\u2019s shell varies; common colours are brown, black and olive green. Some species also have markings that are red, orange, yellow or gray.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28147\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/box-turtle.jpg\" alt=\"box turtle\" width=\"600\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/box-turtle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/box-turtle-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">10) The upper and lower portions of the shell have nerve endings.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-28145\" src=\"\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/cute_little_turtle.jpg\" alt=\"cute little turtle\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/cute_little_turtle.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-content\/uploads\/cute_little_turtle-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Time to tally up turtle trivia in this top ten filled with the latest shell styles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[931,666,1353,411],"tags":[65,604,139],"class_list":{"0":"post-28131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all","8":"category-amphibians-and-reptiles","9":"category-to-edit","10":"category-top-10","11":"tag-facts","12":"tag-reptiles","13":"tag-turtle"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28131"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":595931,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28131\/revisions\/595931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}