News Animals

Turtles make sense after all

Evolutionary development study describes a critical fold that sends the reptile off on its own

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Turtles may be weird, but according to new research, they’re not that weird. Their funny arrangement of shell and shoulder is just the same old land-dweller vertebrate stuff — with a little fold.

STRANGE BLADES Shoulder blades, or scapulas, in people and most other land-dwelling vertebrates sit outside the rib cage (top left) but turtles look as if they’ve got it backward (top right).