Difference between Turtle and Tortoise : Hey guys do you want to know the difference between a Turtle and Tortoise ?
If yes then you have landed at the right place. First thing first Tortoises and Turtles are both reptiles from the order of Testudines, but in different family classification. They both belong to reptile family only. And one more thing “all tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises“. Most turtles are aquatic while tortoises are terrestrial reptiles.
Before we proceed further let me tell you that May 23 is celebrated as World Turtle Day.
Difference between Turtle and Tortoise
Lets understand about both the creatures point wise :-
| Tortoise | Turtle |
|---|---|
| Tortoises are land based reptiles with more and rounded domed shells (carapace). They live in variety of habitats, from deserts to wet tropical forests. | Turtles are adapted to live in water (Aquatic and Marine both). The shells of turtle are thinner than tortoise and are streamlined to help turtles in swimming in the water. Turtles only come to land for laying eggs and after hatching of eggs they return to their habitat. |
| Tortoises have club-like forelegs and ‘elephantine’ hind legs. These legs are used to carry the extra heavier load and navigate easily on the land. | Turtles have more flipper like legs either webbed with long claws to help them latch onto floating objects and climb in and out of water. |
| Tortoises are used to eat on grass and other plants and they are primarily herbivores. | Whereas turtles are aquatic animal and they used to eat both plant as well creatures such as fish and other aquatic animals. So they are basically omnivores with respect to their eating habit. |
| Tortoises usually have a long life compared to turtles their average life span expands from 80-150 years. | Turtles have short life as compared to tortoise, their average life span expands from 20-40 years. |
| Tortoise generally don’t enter in the water except when drinking and bathing as they cant swim in the water. | Turtles on the other hand are build for aquatic life and they are one of the excellent swimmers. |
| Tortoise are smaller than turtles the largest tortoise is Aldabra giant tortoise whose weight is around 250 Kgs. | Turtles are generally larger than tortoises the weight range differs from 300 to 700 Kgs. |
| Some of the species of tortoises are Leopard tortoise, Aldabra giant tortoise, gopher tortoise, etc. | Some of the species of turtles are Olive ridley turtle, green turtle, leatherback turtle etc. |
We hope that we have covered all major differences between Tortoises and Turtles. If you have more doubt you can shoot the questions in comment section.
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