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A tortoise at the back door of a house or in the backyard by a pond is said to attract good fortune and many blessings. Three tortoises stacked on top of each other represent a mother and her babies. [37] In Daoist art, the tortoise is an emblem of the triad of earth-humankind-heaven. [38] The tortoise is a symbol of longevity. [2]
The word turtle is borrowed from the French word tortue or tortre 'turtle, tortoise'. [3] It is a common name and may be used without knowledge of taxonomic distinctions. In North America, it may denote the order as a whole. In Britain, the name is used for sea turtles as opposed to freshwater terrapins and land-dwelling tortoises. In Australia ...
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.
Tortoises: Aldabra giant tortoise (Geochelone gigantea) Trionychidae Fitzinger, 1826: 14: Softshell turtles: Spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera) Pleurodira – 3 families, 16 genera, over 60 species Family Genera Common names Example species Example image Chelidae Gray, 1831 : 15: Austro-American sideneck turtles: Common snakeneck turtle ...
Box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina). Box turtle is the common name for several species of turtle . It may refer to those of the genus Cuora or Pyxidea , which are the Asian box turtles, or more commonly to species of the genus Terrapene , the North American box turtles.
The other four species are Hermann's tortoise (T. hermanni), the Egyptian tortoise (T. kleinmanni), the marginated tortoise (T. marginata), and the Russian tortoise (A. horsfieldii). The Greek tortoise is a very long-lived animal, achieving a lifespan upwards of 125 years, with some unverified reports up to 200 years. [4]
T. ornata is the only species regularly found in grasslands, but its subspecies the desert box turtle is also found in the semidesert with rainfall predominantly in summer. The single location where Coahuilan box turtles are found is a 360 km 2 region characterized by marshes, permanent presence of water and several types of cacti.
The leopard tortoise is the fourth-largest species of tortoise in the world, with typical adults reaching 40 cm (16 in) and weighing 13 kg (29 lb). Adults tend to be larger in the northern and southern ends of their range, where typical specimens weigh up to 20 kg (44 lb), and an exceptionally large tortoise may reach 70 cm (28 in) and weigh 40 ...