Pancake Tortoise

The pancake tortoise is arguably the most radical chelonian in the World. Its pancake shape is a major departure from the typical high-domed tortoise. The skeletal structure of the pancake tortoise shell is reduced to the point where the colored shields overlaying the bony portion of the shell are only partially underlain by bone (the bones are the light-colored framework visible here under the shields). The shell skeleton of the tortoise is akin to a buttress rather than a solid dome of bone typial of turtles and tortoises. The shell actually expands as the tortoise breathes. The light load the tortoise carries allows it to move swiftly (for a tortoise). This is one tortoise that might give a hare a run for its money.