making it a vital and sensitive part of the tortoise’s body. 3. Shell Patterns Are Unique Like Fingerprints Each tortoise shell has a unique pattern of scutes, similar to human fingerprints.

2 A tortoise by any other name A turtle refers to any reptile with a shell, so all tortoises are technically turtles, too. The main difference is that tortoises live only on land, while turtles ...