Mama Diaries

Friday, February 15, 2013

Belly Button Research

My daughter had to do a presentation on sea turtles for school.

"Mom," she said.  "Come and see my power point slide show."

I stood behind her and watched.  It was really good.  But on one of the screens, it said that turtles had belly buttons.  "Are you sure about that?" I asked.

"Yeah, mom, look!"  She pointed at a little spot on the underside of a baby sea turtle's shell.

"But sea turtles don't have umbilical cords like mammals," I said.

"Yes, they do," she retorted.

"You'd better do a little research on that," I said.

She googled, "Do turtles have belly buttons?"

The answer was, "no."

"See, I told you," I said.

She wouldn't take "no" for an answer.  "Chickens have belly buttons!"  She pulled up a screen of an embryo in an egg, and it looked like it was attached to the yolk via a belly button.  "Turtles are the same!"

Long story short, after additional research we have concluded that turtles really do have belly buttons.  Looks like Mama was wrong again.  Apparently my daughter knows more than me!  


Turtle Belly Button!

27 comments:

  1. Well I never knew that either, it seems to be a belly button day in the blog verse haha

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  2. I had no idea! You have a smart daughter. :)

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    1. She's smart - but also a little stubborn. Hmmm. I wonder where she got that from? :)

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  3. Well you certainly learn something every day. Thanks.

    Yvonne.

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    1. I just read Janie's comment. She's rebuttling that turtles have belly buttons. Maybe we need to look at this again. Maybe Mama is right after all! ;)

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    2. Hey Yvonne, I'm still not able to get on your blog. I've been trying to visit!

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  4. Replies
    1. Janie says they don't. I'm going with Janie, because mommies are always right!

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  5. I thought that is where they hid their M&M's.

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  6. From the mouth of babes...

    Interesting stuff I never knew.

    Now please remind her that with regards to alligators, there is no need to ascertain whether they have belly buttons, especially when they are in a feeding frenzy.

    Cheers.

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  7. Sounds familiar, Sherry. I'm sure I've had these same type of conversations with my daughters. :)

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    1. The conversations I have with my kids never cease to amaze me!

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  8. That's awesome! Not that you were wrong, but that we can find all this information out so easily via the web and other sources.

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  9. Reminds me of an argument I had with my brother. He swore that chickens 'poop' eggs. I said that was ridiculous-chickens have vaginas. Well, to settle the issue, I Googled "Do chickens have vaginas?" (Sidebar? I'm sure someone looking up 'Chicken Vaginas' lit off SOMEbody's radar at Homeland Security. Or Perdue). Anyway...turns out they DON'T. They have what's called a 'cloaca' which is kind of a combo pooper/egg spitter-outer. And now you know.
    Hmm...I wonder if my brother knows that turtles have belly-buttons.....

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  10. This is new info--I've never thought of that before and had no idea. It's amusing how inquisitive kids can be and how persistent they are in getting the right answer. I was just listening to my niece ask one question after another to her parents. Some questions would really make us all stop and think because we've never thought of them before. Have a great weekend :)

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    1. Janie says they don't have belly buttons. I'm going with Janie. :)

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  11. But, aren't turtles hatched from eggs? Why would something hatched from an egg have a belly button? I'm so confused.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I'm sorry to be a party pooper, but that mark on the turtle's tummy is a scar from where the egg sack was attached while the turtle was in the shell. It's not a belly button.

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    2. So Mama was right after all! Thank you, Janie! I'll make sure my daughter knows I'm still smarter than her. :)

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    3. I'm happy to be of help. Someone has to take Mama's side.

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