Turtle

Turtles Temporal range: Triassic - Recent
"Chelonia" from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Testudines Linnaeus, 1758
Suborders
Cryptodira Pleurodira See text for families.
Diversity
ca. 300 species in 14 extant families.
blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles

A turtle is a type of reptile that may live on sand or in the water.

Turtles have shells and are the slowest moving reptiles. Most turtles that live in the water have webbed feet like a duck. Tortoises have thick legs like elephants and sea turtles have flippers.

Turtles can see things that are close very well. They cannot see far-away things well.

All turtles need to breathe air. When a turtle breathes, special muscles push the air in and out of the lungs. Turtles are ectothermic. This means that their temperature goes up and down with the temperature of the water and air around them. Some turtles can live for up to a year without eating. Turtles drink water often.

All turtles can live for a long time without food. Tortoises eat plants, fruits and flowers. Some turtles eat fish, tadpoles, snails and insects.

Turtles evolved from reptiles with ribs.

Anatomy and morphology

The largest chelonian is a marine turtle, the great leatherback sea turtle, which reaches a shell length of 200 cm (80 inches) and can reach a weight of over 900 kg (2,000 lb, or 1 short ton). Freshwater turtles are generally smaller, but with the largest species, the Asian softshell turtle Pelochelys cantorii, a few individuals have been reported to measure up to 200 cm or 80 in (Das, 1991). This dwarfs even the better-known alligator snapping turtle, the largest chelonian in North America, which attains a shell length of up to 80 cm (31½ in) and a weight of about 60 kg (170 lb).

A turtle

They are an endangered species because people make money by selling the eggs they have laid, but on some beaches this is not legal.

Shells

The color of a turtle's shell may vary. Shells are commonly colored brown, black, or olive green. In some species, shells may have red, orange, yellow, or grey markings and these markings are often spots, lines, or irregular blotches. One of the most colorful turtles is the eastern painted turtle. It has a yellow plastron and a black or olive shell with red markings around the rim.