Tortoises and Turtles

TORTOISES and TURTLES
Reptile - Vertebrate

SIAMESE TWIN TURTLES

TORTOISE

Male: Turtle

Female: Turtle

Young: Hatchling

TORTOISES

One of the oldest animal species on Earth - believed to have existed for more than 200 million years.
Live on the land.
Have a heavy, domed shaped shell.
Have short and sturdy feet.
Are herbivores.
Eat low-lying shrubs, cacti, grasses, weeds, fruit and other vegetation.
Can live 80 - 150 years.
Lay eggs on the ground in a burrow.
The oldest recorded tortoise was 188 years old.
Giant Tortoises can live in captivity longer than any other animal.
Can feel it if you touch their shells.
A tortoise named Diego is father to 800 offspring.

TURTLES

Live in the water.
Have a flat and streamlined shell.
The shell is very sensitive and can feel every rub, knock or scratch.
Have webbed feet.
Sea turtles rely on the moon to get to water when they are born.
Are almost exclusively omnivores.
Can live 60 - 70 years.
Only 1 in 1,000 leatherback turtles survive to adulthood.
Lay eggs on the ground in a burrow.
The eggs are slightly soft and leathery.
No species of turtle raises its young.
The hatchlings break out of their egg shells, dig their way to the surface and head straight out to sea.
Males grunt and females hiss.
The smallest turtle in the world is the same size as a grape.
The leatherback turtle is the biggest sea title in the world and can weigh as much as 1,500 pounds.
A Siamese Twin turtle - with two heads - was found in a natural reserve in East Turkey.
Baby turtles call to each other while they are still in their shells so that they all hatch at the same time.
Warmer weather causes more turtles to be born female than male.
Can breathe through their backsides.

Visit: Tortoises and Turtle . COLLECTIVE NOUNS, IDIOMS, METAPHORS and EXPRESSIONS

THE SMALLEST TURTLE IN THE WORLD CALLED TIM

TURTLE

TORTOISES
Almost exclusively land dwellers and occasionally enter water to clean themselves, or to drink.
Have hight-domed shells and sometimes have claws for digging.

TERRAPINS
Seem to be a mix between a tortoise and a turtle.
Live near brackish waters or swamps.
Spend much of their time divided between water and land.
Usually small, with a hard shell.

TURTLES
May be completely aquatic, like sea turtles, which rarely come up onto lad, except to lay eggs.
Other types of turtles are semi-aquatic and live by fresh water ponds or lakes.
They spend time on land to bask in the sun and sometimes burrow in the sand.

THE ENDANGERED MARY RIVER TURTLE

This endangered short-necked turtle inhabits the Mary River in South-East Queensland, Australia. In the 1960's and 1970's they were popular as pets, it is now listed as endangered under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992.

GALAPAGOS TORTOISE

TURTLE HATCHLING

GREEN TURTLE

TURTLE

TORTOISE HATCHLING

TERRAPIN