I doubt you’ve ever been up close and personal with a snapping turtle. But, they’re an enormous dinosaur of a beast.

They’ve got leather-cladded paws the size of catchers mitts, a tail as thick as a medieval bludgeon, a shell like a Tiger Tank and a beaked mouth so sharp it could chop a broomstick in half.

Years ago, my Uncle Mike yanked one of these reptiles from the creek out behind his house like some hellish turnip. After throwing a terrible temper tantrum, it tired itself out, cocked its head and eyed Uncle Mike’s skinny, ropey forearms, plotting its attack.

With a half-dead cigarette smoldering out the corner of his mouth, Uncle Mike showed me how to grab the snapper behind its collar to admire it without losing a finger. I had to strain to hoist the turtle into the air. It was as heavy (and big around) as a 45 lbs iron plate.

Uncle Mike eventually returned the beautiful monster to its murky, underwater lair where it soon disappeared beneath the algae and the filth.

I read somewhere once that in ancient warfare, the Romans used a tactic called Testudo (“tortoise formation”). Soldiers would align their shields in such a way that they formed a single protective shell.

During the invasion of Parthia in 36 BC, the Greek philosopher and historian, Plutarch, described this very formation after witnessing Marc Anthony execute it in battle…

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Then the shield-bearers wheeled round and enclosed the light-armed troops within their ranks, dropped down to one knee, and held their shields out as a defensive barrier. The men behind them held their shields over the heads of the first rank, while the third rank did the same for the second rank. The resulting shape, which is a remarkable sight, looks very like a roof, and is the surest protection against arrows, which just glance off it.

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Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature. The idea is that nature has had millions of years to evolve and through this long process of evolution, it has filtered out the inefficiencies.

Testudo is one such example of biomimicry. Perhaps a Roman general once watched a wild dog struggle over a turtle lodged in its shell and was struck with an epiphany.

Nature is more creative than you think. You just have to look.

By Cole Schafer

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