How the turtle got its shell

Long, long ago, in a time so far in the past it preceded the dinosaurs and the continents, lived a tiny creature named “grandfather turtle.” It had many of the qualities of the turtles we know and love today: a boxy body, plodding legs, a long neck topped by a small, round head.

It was only missing one thing: a shell.

Thanks to the newly discovered fossil of that tiny creature, scientists say they have solved the story of how the turtle got its shell...