Tortoise

For other uses, see Tortoise (disambiguation).

Tortoises
Aldabra giant tortoise (Geochelone gigantea) from Aldabra atoll in the Seychelles.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Suborder:	Cryptodira
Superfamily:	Testudinoidea
Family:	Testudinidae

A tortoise is a reptile of the order Testudines which lives on land. Like their aquatic cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. Most are quite small, but island tortoises have several times evolved to a large size: those on the Galapagos are famous. Darwin made one of his rare mistakes when he did not note which island each of them came from. Later it became clear that they were slightly different on different islands. The name may have it's etymology from Tartarus for its deep origin

tortoise shells take really long time to decompose

Further reading

• Chambers, Paul. A sheltered life: the unexpected history of the giant tortoise. John Murray (Publishers), London. 2004. ISBN 0-7195-6528-6.
• Gerlach, Justin. Giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean. Chimiara publishers, Frankfurt. 2004

Gallery

• 
  A baby Testudo marginata emerges from its shell
• 
  Aldabra Giant Tortoise Geochelone gigantea
• 
  Galápagos tortoise on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands
• 
  Gigantic galapagos turtle, Chelonoidis nigra on the island of Santa Cruz

Related pages

• Turtle
• Sea turtle

Other websites

• Gulf Coast Turtle and Tortoise Society* Tortoise World - Several Types of Tortoises Archived 2007-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Chelonia: Conservation and Care of Turtles.
• Infotortuga