My wife tells me she just read to her second-grade class that sea turtles can’t retract their heads. True?
[ol]
[li]Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.[/li][li]Are you calling your wife a liar? I am perfectly willing to believe that she did indeed read that to her second-grade class.[/li][li]I am not a chelonian Ph.D., but a quick Google search for «“sea turtle” retract head» brought up a multitude of websites affirming that sea turtles cannot retract their limbs or heads under the shell.[/li][li]I assume your question relates to this Straight Dope column: Is it true turtles breathe through their butts? (16-Nov-2001)[/li][li]Since the article is a Straight Dope column, not a Staff Report, this thread is leaving the «Comments on Staff Reports» forum and going to the «Comments on Cecil’s Columns» forum.[/li][/ol]
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As far as I know, or have observed, sea turtles are unable to retract their heads into the shell. Although they belong to the cryptodire group, they evidently have lost the requisite flexibility needed to bend the neck enough to get the head into the shell.
SD Staff George
Straight Dope Curator of Critters