In parts of Angola, putting a tortoise shell under your door is meant to ward off your rivals' muti.

ECONOMIST: The king is still in charge

Back at Twentynine Palms, Ken Nagy, a professor emeritus in biology from UCLA studying the reproductive habits of the reptiles, held a baby tortoise in one hand, its shell still soft.

WSJ: An Army of Biologists Are on Nature Patrol at Military Bases

Built by Mitsubishi Electric, it boasts a 59-foot-diameter, turtle-shell-shape antenna dubbed "Gamela, " after the Godzilla-slaying tortoise.

FORBES: Magazine Article

For tortoise soup, take one reptile, eviscerate, remove skin and all fat, remove shell.

ECONOMIST: Nora Ephron and Lonesome George