Have you ever wondered just what makes up a turtle shell? I know when I was a kid, I thought it grew right out of its back and around its body, because the turtle shell that my dad found in the woods and gave to me still had a backbone in it, attached.
It turns out that I was pretty close.
Japanese scientists at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan have discovered that turtle shells are actually made from their own shoulder blades and rib bones. According to the study, published in Science journal, while in the egg, the shell completes a strange but cool folding process that pushes the turtle’s shoulder blades straight into its own ribcage, which makes the ribs grow around them, creating the shell. Read more
