What is the difference between turtles and tortoises?

Answer 1

All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises. The difference between the two is not that one is land-dwelling and one is not, nor is it simply a reference to size and shape characteristics. One example that defies these common misconceptions is the box turtle. It looks like a tortoise with it's domed shell, and because it is mainly terrestrial, but it is a turtle. In fact, box turtles are most closely related to water turtles, family Emydidae. The land tortoises are in the family Testudinidae. Then let's not forget the sea turtles (Cheloniidae), leatherbacks (Dermochelyidae), softshells (Trionychidae), musk and mud turtles (Kinosternidae), and snapping turtles (Chelydridae). Sometimes organisms evolve similar physical characteristics (called convergent evolution) because of similar ecology (the relationship with their environment). In the turtles you'll find a huge diverse group of very interesting organisms.

Answer 2

Turtles and tortoises are both reptiles which have a body protected by a shell. Both of these creatures belong to the order Testudines. As reptiles they are cold-blooded, have scaly skin, and lay eggs with a yolk and a tough outer covering.

Turtles are the oldest living group of reptiles. The earliest fossils of turtles date back to the Triassic period, 200 million years ago.

Turtles and tortoises are divided into 2 large groups. One group retracts their neck into and s-shaped curve allowing them to pull their heads into their shells. The second group hides their heads by bending their neck sideways. Of the 250 species of turtles and tortoises alive today, they have also been grouped into 12 families. Most families are adapted to fresh water or live on land. Only 2 families are adapted to sea life.

Answer 3

Tortoises are reptile with four feet and a hard round shell which live on land and move very slowly.They can pull their heads and legs into their shell.In america tortoises are called turtles and in britain they are called tortoise.
Turtles are large reptiles with hard round shells that live in the sea.They cannot draw their heads and legs into their shell.In america they are called sea turtles and in britain they are called turtles.

Answer 4

Size and their feet. turtles have paddles like feet but tortoise not. with this difference you can say turtles live in water and tortoise on the ground.

Answer 5

Marine forms r called Turtles
Land forms r called Tortoise and
Fresh water forms r called Terrapins

thats all.

Answer 6

u see turtles are the small ones, and tortoise can be a bit big

Answer 7

Turtles are primarily water animals that live in water. They have fin like legs that they swim with.

Tortoises are land animals. They have legs for walking.


There is a difference in the shape of the heads, legs, and shells of tortoises and turtles. They live completely different lyfestyles!

Answer 8

Tortoise - Usually herbivorous land turtles having clawed elephant-like limbs; worldwide in arid area except Australia and Antarctica.

Turtle - Any of various aquatic and land reptiles having a bony shell and flipper-like limbs for swimming

Answer 9

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudinata, most of whose body is shielded by a special bony shell developed from their ribs. The term turtle is usually used for the aquatic species, aquatic fresh-water turtles also being referred to as terrapins.
Tortoises usually herbivorous land turtles having clawed elephant-like limbs; worldwide in arid area except Australia and Antarctica.

Answer 10

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines (all living turtles belong to the crown group Chelonia), most of whose body is shielded by a special bony or cartilagenous shell developed from their ribs. The order of Testudines includes both extant (living) and extinct species, the earliest turtles being known from the early Triassic Period, making turtles one of the oldest reptile groups, and a much more ancient group than the lizards and snakes. About 300 species are alive today. Some species of turtles are highly endangered.

and

A tortoise is a land-dwelling reptile of the order Testudines.

Description
Like its aquatic cousins, the turtle and the terrapin, the tortoise is shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise has both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. Tortoises can vary in size from a few centimetres to two meters. Most land tortoises are herbivorous in the wild. The carapace can help indicate the age of the tortoise by the number of concentric rings, much like the cross-section of a tree. Males tend to have a longer, protruding neck plate than their female counterparts.

Tortoises tend to be diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive and shy.

Most land based tortoises are herbivores, feeding on grazing grasses, weeds, leafy greens, flowers, and certain fruits. Their main diet consists of alfalfa, clover, dandelions, and leafy weeds.

Female tortoises dig and lay about a dozen eggs in burrows or holes they dig. Hatchlings take approximately 90-120 days to incubate from ping-pong-ball sized eggs. The hatchlings break out of their shells with a front beak. Most hatchlings are born with an embryonic egg sac, serving as a source of food for the first couple of days. They are capable of eating solid food in about 3-7 days.

The giant tortoises of the Galápagos Islands helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution, since the isolated populations on the different islands, although descended from a common ancestor, had diverged to different forms.

Tortoises generally have lifespans comparable with those of human beings, and some individuals are known to have lived longer than 150 years. Because of this, they symbolize longevity in some cultures, such as China. The oldest tortoise ever recorded, indeed the oldest individual animal ever recorded, was Tui Malila, who was presented to the Tongan royal family by the British explorer Captain Cook shortly after its birth in 1777. Tui Malila remained in the care of the Tongan royal family until its death by natural causes on May 19, 1965. This means that upon its death, Tui Malila was 188 years old [1], a figure that gives it the title of oldest Cheloniinae (tortoise or turtle) ever recorded.

The Alipore zoo in India was the home to Adwaitya, which zoo officials claimed was the oldest living creature until its death on Thursday, March 23, 2006. Adwaitya (sometimes spelled with two d's) was an Aldabra Giant Tortoise brought to India by Lord Wellesley who handed it over to the Alipur Zoological Gardens in 1875 when the zoo was set up. Zoo officials state they have documentation showing that Adwaitya was at least 130 years old, but claim that he was over 250 years old (although this has not been scientifically verified). Adwaitya was said to be the pet of Robert Clive 1.

Harriet, a resident at the Australia zoo in Queensland, was apocryphally thought to have been brought to England by Charles Darwin aboard the Beagle. Harriet died on June 23, 2006, just shy of her 176th birthday.

The first turtles already existed in the era of the dinosaurs, some 300 million years ago. Turtles and tortoises are the only surviving branch of the even more ancient clade Anapsida, which includes groups such as the procolophonoids, millerettids and pareiasaurs. Most of the anapsids became extinct in the late Permian period, with the exception of the procolophonoids and the precursors of the testudines (turtles and tortoises).

While the Oxford English Dictionary refers to a tortoise as a "slow-moving land reptile with a scaly or leathery domed shell into which it can retract its head and legs" [2], in American English it is not uncommon for such animals to be referred to as turtle.

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