Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • [BEEPING]

  • Hi, it's Doug.

  • You can see here I have a turtle.

  • There are different kinds of turtles.

  • This kind is called a tortoise, and you

  • might have heard of them.

  • Tortoises are turtles that live on dry land.

  • They don't need to be in water.

  • In fact, they don't like to be in water.

  • Now, why do I have a turtle with me?

  • Well, this is actually my pet.

  • It's my pet tortoise.

  • And I thought it'd be fun to get it out,

  • because someone named Samaliya has a question for us about

  • turtles.

  • Let's give her a call now.

  • [BEEPING]

  • Hi Doug.

  • I have a question for you.

  • Hey Samaliya.

  • Could a turtle live outside its shell?

  • That's a great question, Samaliya.

  • Let me show you something.

  • You know how turtles have this shell that they can hide in.

  • They can pull their head in if they want

  • to, even their legs and tail.

  • But could a turtle come out of its shell

  • completely, like crawl out of it and leave its shell behind?

  • Like, you might wonder, maybe a turtle is like a hermit crab.

  • Hermit crabs are these creatures that live in shells,

  • but the shell isn't part of their body.

  • They can come out of their shells completely.

  • Could a turtle do that, too?

  • Well, let's look at a picture of a turtle up close.

  • Does this give us any ideas?

  • If you want to pause the video to take a longer look at it,

  • now would be a good time.

  • OK, you ready?

  • If you've ever touched a turtle shell,

  • then you know it's very hard.

  • It feels similar to how a fingernail feels.

  • It feels like a similar material.

  • And the top part here, what looks like a pattern or design,

  • I learned once is actually separate pieces, almost

  • like tiles.

  • Now, none of this really helps us figure out

  • if a turtle can come out of its shell, though.

  • But look at this photo again.

  • This here-- this is the turtle's skin,

  • and these parts on top and bottom are the shell.

  • Now right here, maybe you noticed

  • that there's no space between the turtle's

  • skin and its shell.

  • It's all connected.

  • A turtle's skin is connected to its shell.

  • So I have to say, it seems like a turtle's shell is probably

  • part of its body.

  • I'm thinking the answer to the question

  • is no, a turtle can't come out of its shell

  • the way a hermit crab can.

  • But it'd be great to be totally sure.

  • Now, how can we be totally sure?

  • Is there anything else we could look at?

  • Well, what we really need is to be

  • able to look inside the shell.

  • And for that, we need to see a turtle's bones.

  • That's what you see here.

  • This is a real picture of a turtle skeleton.

  • We can see turtles do have bones, just like we do.

  • You see here's the skull, here's the neck bones, leg bones.

  • But now, what about the shell?

  • Let's get a closer look at that.

  • Again, if you want to pause the video to look,

  • now would be a good time.

  • OK, you ready?

  • Now maybe you saw what I saw, that the shell itself,

  • on the inside, is white.

  • You see that there?

  • It looks like it's made of bone.

  • In fact, if we flip a turtle skeleton over

  • so that we can look at the turtle from below,

  • we can see its backbone here.

  • Now, look really closely.

  • It looks like the shell is just part of the backbone.

  • Can you see that?

  • Interesting.

  • Now, it turns out sometimes scientists

  • find fossils of turtle bones.

  • I'm talking about bones from turtles

  • that lived long, long ago.

  • This is a turtle fossil right here.

  • A really long time ago, it seems that turtles

  • didn't have the complete shells that they have today.

  • Instead, a long time ago, it was just really long backbones.

  • So maybe, over time, scientists think,

  • turtle backbones have gotten bigger and bigger, to the point

  • where the backbone now forms a complete shell on the turtle's

  • back.

  • So can a turtle live outside its shell?

  • Well, you've seen all the clues.

  • The answer is no, a turtle's shell is part of its body.

  • When we look on the inside at the turtle's skeleton,

  • we can see that the shell is part of the turtle's backbone.

  • And when we look at turtle fossils,

  • we can see that back in time, it definitely

  • was just the backbone.

  • So thanks, Samaliya, for asking that question.

  • Now, for next week, I reached into my question jar,

  • and I found three questions that were submitted that I'm

  • thinking about answering next.

  • When this video is done playing, you'll get to vote on one.

  • You can choose from--

  • why is the sky blue?

  • I found this rock with all these holes in it.

  • How did they get there?

  • Or, why can't everyone curl their tongues?

  • Submit your vote when the video's over.

  • I want to hear from all of you watching.

  • Remember, there are mysteries all around you.

  • Have fun and stay curious.

[BEEPING]

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it