Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-33790467-20190814010218/@comment-995426-20191004160459

So far, Sugilita's last answer about aura energy seems the most credible when it comes to Splinter, and has the benefit of being far less ambiguous than visually inspecting the anatomy of unfamiliar mutants.

At least for some versions of the Turtles, it could all still be moot. Some may have had trivial human-like anatomy and secondary sexual characters. And the Rise Turtles actually all wearing boxer briefs makes it easy to imagine they have something to conceal.

This makes me think of another concept I once ridiculed: Turtles with facial hair. Maybe it's not all that far-fetched after all.

But you think that if they could grow full beards or maintain five o'clock shadows as adults, that they'd already possibly be starting to get their first whiskers as teenagers. Though the onset even in real people can be fickle, as it's perfectly possible to have no whiskers at 15, and start to really get them at 16 or 17.