Are the TMNT biologically related?
 

Me and my sister were having a discussion and we were wondering if the TMNT were biologically related. I mean, just because they were all in the same tank before they were mutated, doesn't necessarily mean they all come from the same mother.

That and in the show (2003, the 2007 movie and the Nick cartoon mostly) they are also all different shades of green. Does that mean they are different species of turtle to??

Inconsequential. Whether they are or not, they are spiritually family. That's what truly matters.

But to directly answer your question, I believe it's varied depending on incarnation...

Probably not, no. It doesn't matter either.

Pretty much this.

Mirage: Implied Brothers
Fred Wolf: Not sure, Splinter refers to them as "Pupils" & "Students"
Playmates Toys: Had them come from different pet Shops
Movies: Implied Brothers
Next Mutation: Not Brothers (though supposedly sharing the film's universe, originally)
4kids: Implied Brothers
IDW: Brothers in a past life, now reincarnated as 4 turtles, probably of the same "litter"
Nick: Implied Brothers
Movie: Implied Brothers

Overall the general theme is that of adoptive family, given Splinter is their would be father, April has a longstanding mother/sister role, Casey a brother or cousin, Zach "the fifth turtle" & so on, so the actual blood relation was never of much any significance.

I like to think of them as "brothers" but not actually blood related.

If they are not brothers then tcest looses it's meaning.

Ya had to go there.


Just depends on preference I guess. Personally I prefer to consider them blood brothers, who share the same little turtle parents out there somewhere who haven't a clue that four of their babies went off on this big adventure.

True, but I like to zero in on and dissect very small inconsequential things. :) It's fun for me I guess, and thought it might be fun to talk about.

While biologically from the same clutch or not that is something that would that only matter in fanfiction. What matters series wise, is that the characters see and consider each other as brothers because that is how they were raised regardless of what clutch or pet shop they were from.

Well i e-mailed the creators back in the 2000s and they said that "they don't know but think that way"

Update

Got it

Exactly. And this fixation with "genetically related" with regards to Karai and her fathers in the Nick Toon undercuts this. Shredder is her real father, because he raised her. To say he's not because they're not related by blood delegitimizes the family bond between Splinter and the turtles.

I'm not sure why people reply with "Doesn't matter because they consider each other brothers." I don't think that's what the op was asking. They were asking are they genetically related or not.


I don't think they are though. Not sure if the creators ever confirmed that.

This. The entire point of TMNT is that that doesn't matter.

I fuc*ing hate you.

Mirage somewhat implies the brother thing
87' is unknown but most likely
90' implies
03' (refer to 90')
12' yes
14' most likely yes

NTTNM who gives a ****

If it mattered to them they could probably find out. It doesn't matter. At their birth it was something they specifically could never really know, but at this point they could probably figure it out by just ordering a few DNA kits from the internet.

A more relevant and important question for them would be if they are the same blood types or not, I'd think. I suppose potential organ transplants are the most justifiable reason for them to actually bother finding out for sure.

The transplant comment made me curious as to whether or not reptiles have different blood types, or blood groups. A lot of animals do it turns out, but not the same as ours. Cat's for example, only have two different groups, and most of them are A, depending what continent we're talking about.

From what I could find out from a quick search, there haven't been a lot of studies into reptilian blood groups. I couldn't find a straight answer, and anoyingly there are a lot of crackpot links getting in the way. There seem to be a bunch of weird conspiracy theories floating around, surrounding the supposed reptilian origins of RH- blood. Apparently Reptoids run the government and the RH blood group system can prove it. :teek:

I believe Laird has said they were always intended to be brothers, by blood and spiritually.

That actually wouldn't be a terrible thing to explore.

My favored personal theory... Same turtle parents, same owner with a breeding pair, but hatched different seasons/nests to explain supposed age differences; Leo separately, Donnie and Raph from the same nest (since it has always been debatable who's older between the two), then Mikey separately.

Someone has mentioned before that legally turtles have to be a certain size to be sold. Leo was a slowpoke in growing (slow and steady toward 'perfection' after all), Donnie and Raph average, and Mikey was fast and caught up quick (a big appetite from the start fueling that), all hitting the right size around the same time and sold to a little local pet store together. (And if human Yoshi bought them then info on ages possibly passed on to him.)

Blood brothers, but only two are nest mates.