On the Back of a Turtle

So how did turtles get their armored suits?

How the Turtle Got Its Shell

Turtles are reptiles, in the same family as snakes and lizards. But unlike snakes, turtles have a hard shell on the outside. A turtle’s shell is made of living bone—it’s part of the turtle’s skeleton. Muscles attach to the shell in the same way your muscles attach to your bones. So turtles can never leave their shells.

For the last 200 million years, turtles have looked pretty much the way they look today. But 220 million years ago, a turtle ancestor called did not quite have a shell yet. It had an