If you happen to be wandering the Mojave Desert and come across a desert tortoise, don’t poke around the critter too closely—you could end up covered with a surprise spray of artificial grape fluid.

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Here’s something you might not know about tortoises: They have nerve endings in their shells, ...

The shells of turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles show a remarkable connection to our 20th-century nuclear history. This astounding revelation comes to light in a new study, which casts an enduring ...

Turtles and tortoises are reptiles with hard, protective shells, but they differ significantly in habitat, anatomy, and lifestyle. Turtles are primarily aquatic or semi-aquatic, featuring streamlined ...

On a spring day in 1978, a fisherman caught a tiger shark in the lagoon surrounding Enewetak Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the north Pacific. That shark, along with the remains of a green sea ...

Q. I know tortoises live on land. Does that mean box turtles (which also live on land) are tortoises? How many true tortoises are there, what parts of the world do they live in and how big do they get ...

Turtles and tortoises can store a decades-long record of past exposure to radioactive contamination on their backs. When exposed to fallout from nuclear weapons testing or accidental waste releases, ...

Northwest researchers have discovered that turtle shells can help track radioactive material through time–like “walking tree rings.” Scientists said these heroes in a half shell could help with ...

Turtles and tortoises, though sharing ancient ancestry and a protective shell, exhibit significant differences in habitat, morphology, and ecological roles. Aquatic turtles possess streamlined shells ...

Many people use the words turtle and tortoise interchangeably, often assuming they represent the same kind of animal with minor variations in size or behaviour. This confusion continues even as ...