how to differenciat between turtle & totoise?

Answer 1

ok the biggest difference that will tell you the difference is that turtles spend thier life in salt water and other places such as marsh lands and stuff. tortoises on the other hand spend thier life around fresh water and on land. turtles have flippers, a smooth shell, and lay thier eggs in the water. Tortoises have feet, a rough shell (bumpy), and lay thier eggs on land!

here's a website for you:

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-turtle.html

Answer 2

Turtles and Tortoise belong to the same family called Testudines. However, the Tortoise is a member who is well adpated to living on land only approaching water to drink or bathe. They have a larger domed shell and thicker/more stocky legs than the Turtle. Turtles generally have smaller legs and spend a lot of time swimming in water as well as being able to venture onto land. Their shell is much flatter than that of the Tortoise, making it more streamlined for swimming.

Answer 3

Let me clarify things a bit more between the taxonomic differences between turtle, tortoise, and terrapins.
All turtles, tortoises, and terrapins are reptiles. Scientists often refer to them as chelonians, because they are in the taxonomic order called Chelonia (from the Greek word for tortoise). They all have scales, lay eggs, and are ectothermic. So why the different names? Those common names usually refer to differences in where the species live and how they use their habitat. But the names are also used differently in other parts of the world. For instance, in Australia only sea turtles are called turtles–everything else is called a tortoise! But here are some generally accepted differences between the types of chelonians.

Turtle— Spends most of its life in the water. Turtles tend to have webbed feet for swimming. Sea turtles (Cheloniidae family) are especially adapted for an aquatic life, with long feet that form flippers and a streamlined body shape. They rarely leave the ocean, except when the females come ashore to lay their eggs. Other turtles live in fresh water, like ponds and lakes. They swim, but they also climb out onto banks, logs, or rocks to bask in the sun. In cold weather, they may burrow into the mud, where they go into torpor until spring brings warm weather again.

Tortoise— A land-dweller that eats low-growing shrubs, grasses, and even cactus. Tortoises do not have webbed feet. Their feet are round and stumpy for walking on land. Tortoises that live in hot, dry habitats use their strong legs to dig burrows. Then, when it’s too hot in the sun, they slip underground.

Terrapin— Spends its time both on land and in water, but it always lives near water, along rivers, ponds, and lakes. Terrapins are often found in brackish, swampy areas. The word terrapin comes from an Indian word meaning "a little turtle.

Answer 4

The main difference between turtles and tortoises is turtles have webbed feet in freshwater species with skin or membrane in between their digits and saltwater species have flippers and spend 80% of their time in the water saltwater species only come ashore to lay eggs,freshwater turtles have almost a smooth curved carapace except the alligator snappers and snapping turtles and some box turtles the box turtles have a hinge on their ventral carapace which they can close.Almost all freshwater species of turtles like terrapin,snappers,softshells etc,are omnivorous they will eat aquatic algae and moss along with some veggies but given an oppertunity they will not hesitate from chowing down on small fishes,worms and crusteceans,snappers and soft shelled are almost entirely reliant on fishes they are oppertunistic predators,turtles only surface for a gulp of air and they come out to lay eggs and bask in the sun.Tortoises cannot swim and do not have webbed feet tortoises are typically found in habitiats ranging from the humid jungles to the scorching deserts.Tortoises are heavy and cumbursome creatures and walk on four feet with body raised above the ground they have a hard curved carapace or shell, it varies from smooth to wobbly with a cryptic to a star pattern it varies from species to species.Tortoises are entirely herbivorous and will only eat grass,plants and cactii in the wild but in captivity they will adapt to veggies with some fibre content.Tortoises vary in size from the very small to the large geoclans to the humongous madagascar tortoise.Though tortoises and turtles may look alike they are both reptiles they are diffrent animals with a diffrent morphology and taxonomic nomenclature.

Answer 5

basically turtles live in the water (except box turtles)
and tortoises live on the land

Answer 6

These are two names of different species of turtles.Tortoise moves very easily on earth whereas a turtle moves with difficulty on the earth.

Answer 7

Turtles usually live in salt water and have large blade shaped flippers for swimming. They find it very hard to walk on land.
Tortoises usually live on land or in fresh water. They have legs rather than flippers and can walk quiet well on land.

These sites have a lot more information that is very interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise

Hope that helps.

Answer 8

A tortoise has feet, and a turtle has flippers.

That's the biggest difference, although their shells and heads are shaped differently too.

Answer 9

Tortoise has limbs feet like ending with nails. but turtles has only paddle like structures.

Answer 10

omg easy question,
turtles hav flippers and spend most of their time in the water but tortoises hav legs and spend i think all their time on land.
:)