Turtles Tales

Turtles are reptiles characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield. The earliest known turtles lived 215 million years ago.

 

 

Baby turtle

Baby turtles are so small and tiny that they can comfortably sit in the palm of your hand. Many species of turtles are vulnerable and are coming dangerously close to the precipice of extinction. When turtles are ready to lay their eggs, they bury them in mud or sand and leave them to incubate themselves. On hatching the babies, which can number up to a dozen, wriggle to the surface and head towards water - but there are no known species of turtle in which the mothers care for their young, instead leaving their children to fend for themselves against the wild. Living on a diet of mollusks and small fish, it takes males 2 to 3 years to reach maturity, growing to 12cm (4.5in), while females take around 4 years.

The largest turtle is the great leatherback sea turtle which reaches a shell length of 200 centimeters (6.6 ft) and can reach a weight of over 900 kilograms (2,000 lb). Alligator snapping turtle, the largest turtle in North America, attains a shell length of up to 80 centimeters (2.6 ft) and a weight of about 60 kilograms (130 lb). Freshwater turtles are generally smaller.The smallest turtle is the speckled padloper tortoise of South Africa. It measures no more than 8 centimeters (3.1 in) in length and weighs about 140 grams (4.9 oz).

Adwaita

Adwaita (meaning "one and only" in Sanskrit) (c. 1750 – 23 March 2006) was the name of a male Aldabra giant tortoise in the Alipore Zoological Gardens of Kolkata, India. With the age of about 255 years, he was the oldest living animal in the World. Historical records show he was a pet of General Robert Clive of the British East India Company, and had spent several years in his sprawling estate before he was brought to the zoo about 130 years ago. His weight was 250 kilograms (550 lb). He lived on a diet of wheat bran, carrots, lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass and salt. His shell cracked and a wound developed some months before his death from liver failure in March 2006.

Turtles, particularly small terrestrial and freshwater turtles, are commonly kept as pets. Among the most popular are Russian tortoises, spur-thighed tortoises, and red-eared sliders. In the United States, due to the ease of contracting salmonellosis through casual contact with turtles, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) established a regulation in 1975 to discontinue the sale of turtles under 4 inches. As of July 1, 2007, it is illegal in Florida to sell any wild type red-eared slider.

The flesh of turtles was, and still is, considered a delicacy in a number of cultures. Turtle soup has been a prized dish in Anglo-American cuisine, and still remains so in some parts of Asia. Gopher tortoise stew is popular with some groups in Florida. Turtles remain a part of the traditional diet on the island of Grand Cayman. Fat from turtles is also used in the Caribbean and in Mexico as a main ingredient in cosmetics. Turtle plastrons (the part of the shell that covers a tortoise from the bottom) are widely used in traditional Chinese medicines.