Question

facts about turtles on 300 words

Answer 1

Answer:

Turtles are reptiles with hard shells that protect them from predators. They are among the oldest and most primitive groups of reptiles, having evolved millions of years ago. Turtles live all over the world in almost every type of climate.

According to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), the turtle order, Testudines (or Chelonia), splits into two suborders, Cryptodira and Pleurodira, and then further splits into 13 families, 75 genera and more than 300 species.

"Turtle," "tortoise" and "terrapin" are often used interchangeably as synonyms, but there are distinct differences between the types of chelonians, according to the San Diego Zoo:

Turtles spend most of their lives in water. They are adapted for aquatic life, with webbed feet or flippers and a streamlined body. Sea turtles rarely leave the ocean, except to lay eggs in the sand. Freshwater turtles live in ponds and lakes, and they climb out of the water onto logs or rocks to bask in the warm sun.

Tortoises are land animals. Their feet are round and stumpy, adapted for walking on land. They also dig burrows with their strong forelimbs, and slip underground when the sun gets too hot.

Terrapins live on land and in water, usually in swamps, ponds, lakes and rivers. turtle's shell is a modified ribcage and part of its vertebral column, according to the Animal Diversity Web (ADW) at the University of Michigan. The top part of the shell is called the carapace, and the bottom is called the plastron, according to the San Diego Zoo. The shell is made up of about 60 bones that are covered by plates called scutes. Scutes are made of keratin, the same material that makes up humans' fingernails.

Answer 2

Explanation:

Tortoises are reptile species of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (from the Latin name for tortoise). They are particularly distinguished from other turtles by being exclusively land-dwelling, while many (though not all) other turtle species are at least partly aquatic. Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like other members of the suborder Cryptodira, they retract their necks and heads directly backwards into the shell to protect them.Tortoises can vary in size with some species, such as the Galapagos giant tortoise, growing to more than 1.2 m in length, whereas others like the Speckled cape tortoise have shells that measure only 6–8 cm long.[1] Several lineages of tortoises have independently evolved very large body sizes in excess of 100 kg, including the Galapagos giant tortoise and the Aldabra giant tortoise. They are usually diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive animals. Tortoises are the longest-living land animals in the world, although the longest-living species of tortoise is a matter of debate. Galápagos tortoises are noted to live over 150 years, but an Aldabra giant tortoise named Adwaita may have lived an estimated 255 years. In general, most tortoise species can live 80–150 years.

Tortoise are placid and very slow moving, with an average walking speed of 0.2–0.5 km/h.