Dear Malachi,

Sometimes animated turtles seem to live inside their shells like it’s a tiny home. They may even hop out of the shell and run around.

That’s funny in cartoons and games, but my friend Ryan Wagner told me it could never happen in real life. He’s a wildlife biologist at Washington State University. He studies animals like turtles and frogs.

It turns out that a turtle’s shell doesn’t sit on top of its body. It’s part of the turtle’s body.

“Turtles are their shells,” Wagner said. “The shell is made up of their bones. As the turtle grows, its shell … » More …