The tortoise, is often confused for a turtle, and the turtle, often confused for a tortoise, are reptiles that carry their houses on their backs. These houses are hard shells covering both their backs and sides. A tortoise’s shell is larger and dome-shaped. When threatened, both turtle and tortoise will draw their heads and legs into their shell for protection.
The tortoise varies in size by species. For instance, the Speckled Cape tortoise is approximately 3 inches long, while the Galapagos giant tortoise is 4 feet in length, and can weigh in excess of 220 pounds. The tortoise has stumpy feet, similar to an elephant’s feet, making it more adapted for walking on land. They are slow-moving with an average walking speed of 0.3 mph.
Tortoises are found most in southern North America to southern South America, the Mediterranean basin, Eurasia, Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, and the Pacific Islands. They live in the desert, grasslands, scrub, and evergreen forests, from sea level to mountains.
The tortoise is a strict herbivore eating grass, weeds, leafy greens, flowers, and some fruits. However, some do hunt and eat birds from time to time.
Giant tortoises cannot swim, but they can survive for long periods of time adrift at sea because they can survive without food and fresh water for months. Today only two living species of giant tortoises have survived: the Aldabra giant tortoise living on the Aldabra Atoll and the dozens of subspecies of Galapagos giant tortoise living on the Galapagos Islands.
Tortoises are the longest-living land animals in the world with an average lifespan of 80-150 years. The oldest recorded tortoise, an Aldabra giant tortoise named Adwaita (photo above)—believed to have hatched in 1750—lived an estimated 255 years until his death in 2006. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the heaviest living tortoise is Esmeralda. He, yes, a he, while not the oldest tortoise alive, is approximately 170 years old, and weighed in at 800 pounds in 2002. Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, the oldest living tortoise, is believed to be 192 years of age.
The turtle is typically smaller. The smallest living turtle species is the Chersobius signatus found in South Africa. It is no more than 4 inches long and weighs about 6 ounces. However, the largest living turtle species is the leatherback turtle, just shy of 9 feet long and weighing 1,100 pounds. Turtle shells can be dome-shaped, making them more resistant to being crushed, but the shell of an aquatic turtle is flatter and smoother, making it easier to cut through water. Some species have camouflaged, pointy, or spiked shells that provide extra protection against predators. Softshell turtles have rubbery edges. The leatherback turtle has hardly any bones in its shell but has thick connective tissue and an outer layer of leathery skin.
Because of the weight of their shells, land turtles are slow-moving at a speed of 0.14-0.30 mph. By contrast, a sea turtle can swim 19 mph. Turtles have webbed feet with five toes.
Turtles have no ear openings, and their eardrums are covered with scales, and they have smell receptors along the nasal cavity. All turtles must breathe air. Depending on the aquatic turtle species, periods underwater vary between one minute and an hour.
Most turtle species are omnivores, but land-dwelling species are more herbivorous, and aquatic species are more carnivorous. Most feed on plant material or mollusks, worms, and insect larvae, though some will eat fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and even other turtles.
Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle; wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise