Tortoise
A tortoise is a terrestrial turtle belonging to the Testudinidae family,
Testudines order, and Cryptodira suborder. They are one of the
longest living animals in the world.
Background
▪ Tortoise is the word referred to slow, terrestrial turtles. This was
determined by the American Society of Ichthyologists and
Herpetologists.
▪ Tortoises and turtles have existed since 300 million years ago.
▪ They inhabit places with a semi-arid climate.
Physical Characteristics
▪ A tortoise’s shell is not a single shell, but rather a composition of 60
bony plates.
▪ The top part is called a carapace and the underside is called a
plastron.
▪ Both sides are joined by a bridge.
▪ The top carapace has scales on it called scutes.
▪ Scutes protect the shell plates from getting injured.
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Tortoise
▪ Tortoises can hide their head, feet, and tail in their shell.
▪ A tortoise has a collarbone, ribs, and a spine inside its shell.
▪ Their shells are very sensitive.
▪ Tortoises are able to feel anything that touches their shells,
even if you touch it very softly.
▪ You can tell the age of a tortoise by the rings around its
scutes.
▪ The color of a tortoise’s shell is telling to its place of origin.
▪ Tortoises with light-colored shells come from warmer places.
▪ The sulcata, for instance, has a light tan shell and it comes
from the Sahara Desert.
▪ Tortoises have no teeth so they chew their food using ridges
in their tough mouths.
▪ Tortoises have no ears, but they have two tiny holes on the
sides of their heads.
▪ On the roof of their mouths is what is called the Jacobson’s
organ.
▪ The Jacobson’s organ is a vomeronasal organ that allows
tortoises to have a sharp sense of smell.
▪ Tortoises can smell even the faintest of scents.
▪ They circulate air that passes through their nose by pumping
their throats.
▪ Tortoises are sensitive to bright colors.
▪ A tortoise’s feet can draw heat from the ground.
A giant tortoise’s foot
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Tortoise
Other Characteristics
▪ Although tortoises can’t swim, they can hold their breath
underwater for long periods of time because they’re able to
tolerate carbon dioxide.
▪ Tortoises are cold-blooded and get warmth from their
environment. This is why they like sunbathing.
▪ Tortoises are diurnal, meaning they’re active in the day and
asleep at night.
▪ Tortoises are mostly herbivorous.
▪ Not all turtles are tortoises.
▪ Tortoises are mainly terrestrial while turtles are mostly
water-dwelling.
▪ The main physical difference of turtles and tortoises are their
feet and shells.
▪ Tortoises have short, thick feet like those of an elephant’s
while turtles have webbed feet for swimming.
▪ A tortoise’s shell is heavier and more rounded while a turtle’s
shell is lighter and flat.
▪ Tortoises are often loners.
▪ Tortoises are experts at getting all the water and nutrients
they need from what they eat.
▪ Their hindgut system separates water from waste, which is
handy when water is scarce and they need to rely on water
from their waste.
▪ A tortoise’s sex can only be seen
when it reaches a certain size.
▪ However, there are other ways to
tell if a tortoise is male or female:
by their shells and by their tails.
▪ Females generally have flatter
plastrons and males tend to have
longer tails.
▪ Females can lay eggs even
without a male partner to fertilize
them.
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Tortoise
Species
▪ The largest tortoise species is the Galapagos tortoise which
can weigh up to 440 pounds and grow up to 1.2 meters long.
▪ The Aldabra giant tortoise, found in the Aldabra atoll in
Seychelles, is one of the largest tortoises in the world.
▪ The African spurred tortoise, also known as the sulcata, is
the third largest tortoise and one of the most popular to have
as a pet.
▪ The sulcata is found in the Sahara desert and weighs up to
200 pounds and lives for up to 100 years.
▪ The red-footed tortoise and the yellow-footed tortoise from
South America are often kept as pets.
▪ The Indian star tortoise is an endangered species from India
and Sri Lanka.
▪ The pancake tortoise is the species with a flattened shell
and is native to Kenya and Tanzania.
Other Facts
▪ A group of tortoises is known as a creep.
▪ The lifespan of a tortoise ranges from 90 to 250 years.
▪ Most tortoises hibernate in the winter.
▪ Tortoises hide in their shells when they’re startled.
Galapagos tortoise African spurred tortoise
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Tortoise
▪ Tortoises exhibit sexual dimorphism, meaning males and
females are distinctly different from each other in terms of
appearance.
▪ Females are typically larger in size than males.
▪ Female tortoises lay up to 30 eggs at a time.
▪ Females leave their eggs in deep burrows that they dig and
let the eggs incubate for 90 to 120 days.
▪ Males try to get the attention of females for mating by
ramming their shells.
▪ Females can store a male’s sperm for up to three or four
years until they use it to fertilize their eggs.
▪ It is not only the tortoise’s shell that is affected by
temperature but also the tortoise’s sex.
▪ In warmer climates, there are more female offspring.
Tortoise Trivia
▪ The tortoise is the symbol of the Greek god Hermes.
▪ Charles Darwin once had a pet Galapagos tortoise named
Harriet.
▪ Harriet ended up in the zoo founded by the parents of Steve
Irwin, the famed Crocodile Hunter.
▪ In 1968, the Soviet Union launched a spacecraft with
tortoises on board. It went around the Earth and safely
returned back.
▪ Sailors used to eat the meat of tortoises they captured in the
Galapagos Islands.
▪ The Galapagos Islands were named after the Galapagos
tortoises by the Spanish who found the islands in 1535.
▪ The ancient Roman military made use of a formation
inspired by tortoises, which is called the testudo formation.
▪ Testudo is the Latin word for tortoise.
▪ The testudo formation would require soldiers to line up in
rows with their shields held in front of or above them. The
shields would then look like a shell that covered the whole
unit.
▪ Objects can be called testudinal if they are shaped like or
are reminiscent of a tortoise shell. [Link]
Name: ______________
Tortoise Basics
What are the basic facts we need to remember
about tortoises? Fill in the blanks to complete the
most important tortoise facts!
A tortoise is a ___________ turtle
belonging to the Testudinidae family
under the order of __________.
They have existed since
____________ years ago.
They are one of the
____________animals in the world.
They live in places with a
___________ climate.
They live on ______ and not water.
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ANSWER KEY
Tortoise Basics
What are the basic facts we need to remember
about tortoises? Fill in the blanks to complete the
most important tortoise facts!
A tortoise is a terrestrial turtle
belonging to the Testudinidae family
under the order of Testudines.
They have existed since 300 million
years ago.
They are one of the longest living
animals in the world.
They live in places with a semi-arid
climate.
They live on land and not water.
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