Following is a transcript of the video. Narrator: A turtle's shell is as much a part of its body as our rib cage is of ours. In fact, it is their rib cage, and their spine, and their vertebrae ...

These leathery turtles spend most of their lives buried motionless in river mud, but burst into action to catch their ...

Unregulated commercial collection of freshwater turtles in southern ... unique geophysical coloration and pattern on map turtles' shells and skin. Many map turtles in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, ...

In cartoons, when a turtle is spooked, it retreats into and closes up its shell. While used for comic effect, this imagery is based in fact — although not all turtles are capable of this protective ...

Turtles have a lower shell, called a plastron, and an upper shell, or carapace. In hard-shelled turtle species, the shells are made up of bony plates that are covered with scale-like “scutes.” ...