#fun fact: testudines are the order of reptiles turtles are in

[an-artistic-failure]

Here’s some fanart for @pinetreevillain ‘s Timothy because he is perfect.

[an1d10t]

Hmmm.. Facts about

✨turtles✨

(Yk, I might actually make a seperate blog for these)

Anyway, I’ll be talking about the difference in tortoises and turtles first. Tge difference in turtles and tortoises is their shell.

Tortoises have a more rounded and thicker shell while turtles have a more water-dynamic and thinner shell. Turtles are also more used to water while tortoises spend most of their time on land.

Turtles don’t only have flippers and are able to walk on land. Here I’ll take the eastern box turtle as example.

They have ‘legs’ but can still swim quite good, although they are not the best swimmer, sea and pond turtles can obviously swim faster and therefore better, they will still want to spend most of there time by water. This is because they are a semi-aquatic species. They need humid and damp conditions, that is because their hatchlings dehydrate very quickly.

And what kind of monster would want to dehydrate and kill this little creature??

Anyway, I’m pretty sure that what I said about box turtles also counts for other semi-aquatic turtles. Now moving on to sea turtles,

So I’m pretty sure we have all heard atleast once about sea turtles. Sea turtles, sometimes called marine turtles, are in the reptiles of the order Testudines. Sea turtles are one of the kore ancient animals of the planet. There are only 7 species, and if anyone wants I can make a whole post about every single one of them.

One of my personal favourites is the leatherback turtle. So I’ll probably be talking about them for the biggest part. Like you can see, tge leatherback turtle is the biggest one.

Leatherback turtles are the heaviest non-crocodilian reptiles, reaching up to length of 1.8 meters, in other words, as big as the average grown male. (68% of the grown men are around 1.75 meters, which actually makes the turtle bigger than most of them). They also weigh over 500 kilos. (Although I’m not sure. The source is saying that they weigh 500 kilograms, which would not be logical at all).

Now, about sea turtles, they are not fish. They are reptiles and have lungs. Those lungs are obviously not the same as mammalian lungs. They need to go up to the surface to breathe. When in a resting state they can stay underwater for 2 hours.

Sea turtles can also get stranded. This in sadly not uncommon and happens quite often in the winter. They pretty much get frozen and become ‘cold-stunned’. This happens to loggerhead and Ridley turtles.

Fun facts about sea turtles, they don’t have teeth. Their mouth is similar to one of a snail. Now, some people might find this picture a bit disturbing, so im just saying, if you don’t like a black hole with spikes sticking out, you might want to skip this picture

Not something I’d want to stick my hand in.

Sea turtles eat jellyfish btw. I think it’s pretty easy to tell how they eat those jelly fish.

Now moving on to the pond turtles,

There are 50 different pond turtles species. The largest species of pond turtles are the Heosemys grandis’. (Also called the giant Asian pond turtles)

I can’t really find a lot about them.

So, now we can get to my favourite part, the fun facts. (Jeez this was fun to research lol)

Okay, so, turtle is actually an umbrella term for approximately 200 species of terrapins, turtles and tortoises. Aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles have webbed feet. They live in ponds. And sea (marine) turtles have flippers.

Sea turtles have to get onto land to lay eggs. They always do this at night to not get disturbed. Also, touching turtle eggs is actually illegal. (So don’t do it. Please)

You know how turtles have shells, right? Well, that shell is made of around 50 bones combined! The top part of the shell is called ‘carapace’ and the under side is called ‘plastron’.

I’ve talked a bit about the leatherback turtle, right? The fun facts about them is that they’re actually named after the shell. Their shell is pretty much made out of leather/a leathery texture.

Now, turtles (talking about the umbrella term thingy) can all get quite old. Tortoises can get up to 100 years old! Sea turtles can get to the ripe age to 50. And sweet water turtles can get up to the age of 30-40 years.

See this silly thing? This is the African helmeted turtle. He looks very innocent but they are actually carrion eaters and can be quite vicious in its quest for food. This silly little thing has been witnessed drowning doves and other prey, dragging them to the depths of ponds to dine. No thank you.

And that was all (for now).

Have a great day! :D

@butterfly-with-wings-writes

[its-just-jaylon]

The Green Sea Turtle

The green sea turtle is one of the largest sea turtles and the only herbivore among the different species. This sea turtle has an oval-shaped body which is flattened and all of their flippers have 1 visible claw. The carapace color varies from pale to very dark green and plain to very brilliant yellow, brown and green tones with stripes. The sea turtle is also known to reproduce sexually.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Cheloniidae

Scientific Name:

Chelonia mydas

Nutrition:

The green sea turtle when less than 8 to 10 inches in length eat worms, young crustaceans, aquatic insects, grasses, and algae.

When the green turtles reach 8 to 10 inches in length, they eat sea grass and algae, and it's only sea turtle that is strictly herbivorous as an adult. 

-green sea turtle eating-

Habitat/ Environment:

The green sea turtle mainly stays near the coastline and around islands and live in bays and protected shores, especially in areas with seagrass beds. 

This species is also found in all temperate and tropical waters throughout the world.

Behavior:

The Eastern Pacific green turtle will take land to bask in the sun.

 Occasionally seen sunbathing with seals and albatrosses, it is one of the few marine turtles known to leave the water other than at nesting times.

 To nest, females will leave the sea and choose an area, usually on the same beach used by their mothers, to lay their eggs. 

They dig a pit in the sand with their flippers, fill it with a clutch of 100 to 200 eggs, cover the pit and return to the sea, leaving the eggs to hatch after about two months. 

Green sea turtles may develop fibropapillomas or lobed tumor-like growths on the skin. They are known to reduce vision, obstruct normal swimming and feeding, and increase susceptibility to secondary parasitism and infection.

-green sea with fibropapillomas or lobed tumor-like growths-

Reproduction/development:

Green turtles nest at intervals of about every 2 years, with wide year-to-year fluctuations in numbers of nesting females. 

They nest between 3 to 5 times per season, with the eggs incubating for about 60 days. 

The species is known to reach maturity at 50 and have an 80-year lifespan.

-green sea turtles mating-

Fun Facts:

The green sea turtle is named for their layer of green fat that lies under their shell. Scientists believe the quirky-colored fat is the result of their veggie diet.

They can rest for up to five hours at a time before coming up to breathe. 

When threatened they can swim up to speeds of 35km/hr

Adults weigh between 240 and 420 pounds 

They are an endangered species

Sources:

./www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/g/green-sea-turtle/

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4615/0

conserveturtles.org/information-sea-turtles-green-sea-turtle/

https://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-infobooks/sea-turtles/longevity-and-causes-of-death