what is the differance between a Turtle and a Tortoise?

Answer 1

Land and sea
Turtles spend time in water and land. Tortuses land only

Answer 2

Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins 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.

From the Tortoise Trust Guide to Tortoises & Turtles.

What's the difference between a tortoise and a turtle?
Strictly semantics. All are chelonians. All chelonians are turtles. There is indeed a regional variance in the naming of chelonians. With the advent of modern communications this regional variation is becoming blurred.

In the USA - a turtle is found in or around water and a tortoise is found on dry land. A terrapin is a turtle that is found in brackish water. In general, look at the back legs. If they are webbed, call it a turtle. If they are stumpy (like an elephants) call it a tortoise.

In the UK they apply terrapin to freshwater chelonians, tortoise to land chelonians, and turtle to oceanic dwellers.

In Australia 'tortoise' is used for everything except sea 'turtles'. (There are no land chelonians native to Australia)

Terrapin is also occasionally used as the name for any turtle that is to be eaten by humans in both the UK and USA.

Answer 3

A turtle will hang out around ponds and other bodies of water. A turtle also looks different, it has a "smoother" looking shell, a sort of streamlined look, with fewer segments in comparison to a tortoise, and sometimes none at all.
A turtle can move fairly fast if need be, especially into the water if danger approaches.
A tortoise has a boxy looking shell; its shell is more rounded, and is much more obviously segmented.
A tortoise is more likely to be found in dry places including deserts and dry empty fields.
A tortoise moves slowly most of its life.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

The terms 'turtle,' 'tortoise,' and 'terrapin' are often used interchangeably, and depending on which country you are in, may describe a completely different type of 'turtle.' But before you get too concerned about the common names, let us take a step back and identify them as belonging to one common order, the Chelonia. If it has a shell and is a reptile, then it is going to fall into the order Chelonia, which includes 244 different species.
For most Americans, the term 'turtle' describes the Chelonians that are aquatic or semi-aquatic. The term 'tortoise' describes a Chelonian that lives primarily on land. 'Terrapin' can describe some freshwater or saltwater turtles, but is not often used.

If you were in Australia, you might call all of the turtles 'tortoises,' and in Britain, a 'turtle' would mean a saltwater species and a 'terrapin' would be a freshwater species. Are you confused yet? Good, so am I. So for the purpose of this article, let us call the species that live on land, tortoises and the species that are aquatic or partially aquatic, turtles. We will forget about the term terrapin for now.

While there can be a lot of differences between individual species, for the ease of comparison, I am going to go out on a limb and make a couple of general assumptions about the difference between turtles and tortoises. In general, tortoises live on land and eat a primarily vegetarian diet, and turtles live in or near the water and eat a meat-based diet or a combination of meat and vegetation. To take this one step further, turtles are often broken down into aquatic and semi-aquatic species. The aquatic species spend the majority of their lives in or near the water and eat a diet that is mostly meat based. Semi-aquatic turtles spend a greater period of time on land, but periodically enter the water. Semi-aquatic turtles tend to eat both plants and animals. An example of a semi-aquatic turtle is the well known American Box Turtle. While there are several subspecies differences, this turtle tends to spend most of its time on land, but enters very shallow water several times a week to defecate. The young turtles are primarily meat eaters, but as they get older, they eat a primarily vegetarian diet.

Answer 6

Turtles go in the water. Tortoises don't.

Answer 7

a tortoise is a turtle that has a much bigger shell and more elephant kinda legs they don't swim well and probably would drown in deep water so basically there much more land .and a turtle has flattened feet kinda webbed good for swimming and has a flat kinda shell.so basically there more of a water turtle.

Answer 8

A turtle lives on land, a tortoise lives in the sea, and migrates to land to lay her eggs.

Answer 9

A tortoise is often what you notice, like the place I stay in desolate tract, place a turtle is maximum comman with a section of water greater! Tortoise, is a touch greater durable in schell, then a trutle! they have greater of darkish colour of a brown and trutle has greater colour of a eco-friendly tint!

Answer 10

turtles spend most of their time in the water; tortoises are land dwellers.

Answer 11

The main difference is whether they live in water or on land.

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.

If this or another answer here proves helpful in your research, you can encourage good answers by choosing one answer as the "best answer."

Cheers,
Bruce