The hard, bony external shell, called a carapace, not only indicates the relative age and species of sea turtles; it also functions as a natural suit of armour.
Sea turtles cannot retract their heads and limbs under their shells, unlike other turtles. Instead their bodies are streamlined for endurance and speed in the water, which is helpful when adult sea turtles are confronted by their primary predators: large sharks and sometimes killer whales. The characteristics that make them powerful swimmers, large paddle-like foreflippers and smaller, rudder-like hind flippers, also make sea turtles clumsy and virtually powerless on land, venerable to anything.
Also with the shell, their also are armed with claws on each foreflipper, large upper eyelids to protect their eyes, and acute senses of sight and smell under water. Neither sea turtles nor land turtles have teeth, but they have well-built jaws that vary in shape according to species and diet. Some turtles eat coral, just imagine the damage to bone or an animal.
Sea turtles cannot retract their heads and limbs under their shells, unlike other turtles. Instead their bodies are streamlined for endurance and speed in the water, which is helpful when adult sea turtles are confronted by their primary predators: large sharks and sometimes killer whales. The characteristics that make them powerful swimmers, large paddle-like foreflippers and smaller, rudder-like hind flippers, also make sea turtles clumsy and virtually powerless on land, venerable to anything.
Also with the shell, their also are armed with claws on each foreflipper, large upper eyelids to protect their eyes, and acute senses of sight and smell under water. Neither sea turtles nor land turtles have teeth, but they have well-built jaws that vary in shape according to species and diet. Some turtles eat coral, just imagine the damage to bone or an animal.