Mystery Bones of Infant Island ("Skeleturtle")

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Mystery Bones of Infant Island
Skeleturtle in Mothra vs. Godzilla
Alternate names Skeleturtle, Kame no Gaikotsu,
Infant Island's Kai Kotsu
Species Turtle
Created by Eiji Tsuburaya, Shinichi Sekizawa
Played by Puppet
First appearance Mothra vs. Godzilla

The Mystery Bones of Infant Island (インファント島の怪骨,   Infanto-tō no Kaikotsu) is a turtle kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1964 Godzilla film, Mothra vs. Godzilla.

Name

"Mystery Bones of Infant Island" is a translation of the official Japanese name for the creature given on an officially licensed 2012 ornament of it produced by Cast.[1][2] Cast later released an ornament for the skeletons lying around Skeleturtle in Mothra vs. Godzilla, which referred to them as the "Other Mystery Bones of Infant Island" (インファント島の別の怪骨,   Infanto-tō no Betsu no Kaikotsu). Officially licensed t-shirts featuring Skeleturtle that were sold in Japan refer to the creature in English as Infant Island's Kai Kotsu. "Skeleturtle" is a fanmade nickname, created by Chris Mirjahangir of Toho Kingdom,[3] before the official name was known. Another unofficial fan nickname for the creature, "Kame no Gaikotsu" (亀の骸骨,   Kame no Gaikotsu, lit. Turtle Skeleton), was coined by Miles Imhoff, also from Toho Kingdom.[3]

Design

Skeleturtle is purely white and gray, with black eyes, and a bland, pale shell with no visible scutes. It has a fairly long neck, and very short limbs, which have tiny bone fragments visible. Though it could be interpreted as either a skeleton bobbing in the wind or a living creature moving its head back in forth in Mothra vs. Godzilla, it is unambiguously portrayed as a living creature in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.

Origins

Within the context of Mothra vs. Godzilla, Skeleturtle's direct origins are unknown. It is possible that it was either a larger turtle killed by nuclear testing or a species of turtle affected by the atomic radiation contaminating Infant Island.

History

Showa series

Mothra vs. Godzilla

When Ichiro Sakai, Junko Nakanishi, and Professor Shunsuke Miura traveled to Infant Island to beg Mothra for help in defeating Godzilla, they witnessed how the island had been devastated by nuclear tests. Skeleturtle sat among the remains scattered around their landing site, although they did not remark on it.

Comics

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth

Skeleturtle fled from the battle between Mothra and Battra on Infant Island in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #19.


Gallery

Main article: Skeleturtle/Gallery.

Trivia

A turtle skeleton in Mondo cane, potentially the inspiration behind Skeleturtle
  • Skeleturtle's inclusion in Mothra vs. Godzilla may be a reference to a popular 1962 Italian documentary entitled Mondo Cane (It's a Dog's World). The film contains a large number of documented atrocities to nature and animals, including turtles on the radiation-contaminated Bikini Atoll beaches, many of which were dead or dying from the continued fallout from nuclear tests. The dried bones of the turtles move in the wind, which is reflected in Skeleturtle's movement in the film.
  • Skeleturtle appears in the officially-licensed Godzilla book Shinji Nishikawa: Drawing Book of Godzilla, in little sketches made by Shinji Nishikawa on the inner back cover and the last page of the book.[5]


Videos

Wikizilla: YouTube Kaiju Profile: Skeleturtle

References

This is a list of references for Mysterious Bones. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

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