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In Australia, which lacks true tortoises (family Testudinidae), non-marine turtles were traditionally called tortoises, but more recently turtle has been used for the entire group. [ 4 ] The name of the order, Testudines ( / t ɛ ˈ s tj uː d ɪ n iː z / ⓘ teh- STEW -din-eez ), is based on the Latin word testudo 'tortoise'; [ 5 ] and was ...
In the UK, tortoises are land-dwellers, while turtles and terrapins are aquatic (terrapins are slightly fonder of the land than turtles). But in the US, turtle covers all three.
The leatherback sea turtle is the largest sea turtle, reaching 1.4 to more than 1.8 m (4.6 to 5.9 ft) in length and weighing between 300 and 640 kg (661 to 1,411 lbs). [11] Other sea turtle species are smaller, ranging from as little as 60 cm (2 ft) long in the case of the Kemp's ridley, which is the smallest sea turtle species, to 120 cm (3.9 ...
General American usage agrees; turtle is often a general term; tortoise is used only in reference to terrestrial turtles or, more narrowly, only those members of Testudinidae, the family of modern land tortoises; and terrapin may refer to turtles that are small and live in fresh and brackish water, in particular the diamondback terrapin ...
In contrast to their earth-bound relatives, tortoises, sea turtles do not have the ability to retract their heads into their shells. Their plastron, which is the bony plate making up the underside of a turtle or tortoise's shell, is comparably more reduced from other turtle species and is connected to the top part of the shell by ligaments without a hinge separating the pectoral and abdominal ...
The African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata), also called the sulcata tortoise, is an endangered species of tortoise inhabiting the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the Sahel, in Africa. It is the largest mainland species of tortoise in Africa, and the third-largest in the world, after the Galapagos tortoise and Aldabra giant tortoise.
Common snapping turtles are "quite docile" animals underwater that prefer to avoid confrontations rather than provoke them. [41] The ability to bite forcefully is extremely useful for consuming hard-bodied prey items such as mollusks, crustaceans, and turtles along with some plant matter, like nuts and seeds. [42]
In 2007, a 10-year-old kid in zombie face paint became a viral sensation long before there was ever a term for it — all thanks to three simple words.