What is Difference between Turtles and Tortoises?
Difference between Turtles and Tortoises is that In the Triassic, 260 million years ago, the turtle’s ancestor, the Captorhinus, appeared for the first time to be the first reptile to possess a shell that covered its thorax, organs, and also covered its ribs. This made it possible for some animals, such as turtles, to develop a shell of bone.
Keep reading to know everything about turtles!
Differences in longevity
There is a big difference between the ages that a turtle can live according to its species. Land turtles, for example, are the longest-lived to live more than 100 years. In fact, the turtle that has lived the most in history was a Madagascar star turtle that reached 188 years.
On the contrary, water turtles usually live between 15 and 20 years. A separate case is the freshwater turtles, which can live up to 30 years if they receive good care.
Adaptation of the legs to the medium
The legs of the turtles are one of the most important elements when determining whether you are facing a water turtle or a land turtle.
Taking into account that sea turtles remain constantly inside the water, it is logical that their legs are formed by a series of membranes that allow them to swim. These membranes, called interdigital membranes because they are between the toes, are easy to detect with the naked eye.
In the case of land turtles, they do not have these membranes but their legs are shaped like a tube and their fingers are more developed.
Another interesting difference is that sea turtles have long, pointed-toed nails while ground turtles are shorter and stunted.
The turtle’s character
The character depends a lot on the habitat in which they operate and whether they are domestic or not.
In this case, water turtles tend to have a very calm character even though their interaction if in captivity is very low.
However, the temperament of land turtles is stronger and it is that living in freedom and having to protect their young is what makes them more irascible and always on the defensive.
An example of extreme aggressiveness can be seen in the alligator turtle, a turtle that adapts wonderfully to live on land and in water. Difference between Turtles and Tortoises
Shell Differences
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In the case of the shell the most important difference is that while the water turtle has a smooth and very soft shell that helps it move through the water, the land turtle has a shell full of wrinkles and with a very irregular shape. The last type of shell is very characteristic, for example, of the African land turtle. Difference between Turtles and Tortoises