This article is about turtle which should not be confused with Tortoises. There are some differences between turtles and tortoises. Turtles primarily live in water are omnivorous and have flippers or webbed feet. Whereas tortoise live only in land, are herbivorous and do not have any flipper or webbed feet.
Turtles are one of the oldest reptile group i.e, much more ancient than Lizards, Snakes or Crocodiles and are characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell which acts as a shield. The earliest known turtle date from 220 million years ago.
They can vary in sizes and weights. The smallest turtle species measured to be not more than 8cm and weighing 140gm where as the largest one reported to be 200cm and weights 900kg. A group of turtles is known as a “bale”.
Turtles are cold blooded animals i.e, their internal body temperature varies according to the environment.
Though most of the species live in water, they need air for breathing and needs to come to land to lay eggs.
Turtles in general have huge numbers of rod cells in their retina due to which they have exceptional night vision.
Turtles do not have any teeth instead upper and lower jaws of turtles have horny ridges. As turtles can be both carnivores as well as herbivores, the ridges differs according to their food habits. Unlike most reptiles turtles cannot stick out their tongues to catch prey rather they use it to swallow food. They have sharp beak for catching prey.
Instead of feet the turtles have flippers which help them to swim in water. Sea turtle can generate a swimming speed of 35 miles per hour. Some amphibian turtles have webbed feet instead of flipper due to their continuous interaction with both land and water.
The most unique part of a turtle’s body is its shell. The inner layer of a turtle's shell is made up of bones that include portions of the backbone and the ribs. That is why the turtle cannot crawl out of its shell. The upper portion of the shell is called carapace where as the lower portion is called plastron.
The color of a turtle's shell may vary from brown, black, or olive green(in most of the cases) to having red, orange, yellow, or grey markings(in some species), there are often spots, lines, or irregular blotches are also found in the shells.With contrast to tortoises, the turtles have lighter shells. This helps them to swim faster with much more agility and not get sink in the water. It has been reported that turtle shell can act as pH buffer also.
Like snakes turtles also molt their skin. But unlike snakes they do not molt their skins all at once, but continuously, in small pieces.
The mother turtle does not participate in any form of parental care. Large numbers of eggs are deposited in holes dug into mud or sand. They are then covered and left to incubate by themselves. In some species the temperature determines the sex(higher temperature means female turtle where as low temperature results in male turtles) of the new born baby turtles. When the turtles hatch, they squirm their way to the surface and head toward the water. Only 1 or 2 out of 1000 turtles hatch ling grow to adulthood.
The turtle eggs have some peculiarities when compared with our well known bird’s eggs. The albumen portion of the eggs contains different protein and so it does not coagulate when cooked.
Recently almost all of the sea turtle are included in the endangered species of animals. Let us take some steps to save these beautiful and unique creatures.
Hope you enjoyed the article. Thanks for reading.
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