- Turtles are reptiles whose bodies are covered with bony shells. They are found across most of the world’s temperate and tropical oceans and on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica.
- Turtles are believed to be among the oldest of reptiles, having existed for over 200 million years. There are approximately 300 species of turtles in the world today.
- A turtle's shell is actually a modified rib cage and is part of the vertebral column. The top part is called "carapace" and the bottom "plastron." In total, there are over 50 different bones that make up the shell.
- Different species of turtles have different dietary preferences, ranging from strongly carnivorous to solely herbivorous. The snapping turtle, for example, will eat mainly fish and frogs. Species like the slider and cooter have mixed diets, with the latter leaning towards being a vegetarian.
- Did you know the green sea turtle starts life as a carnivore (hatchlings and juveniles are usually carnivorous) but shift to an herbivorous diet as they grow older?
- Sea turtles migrate great distances to nest and lay eggs on the same beaches they were hatched.
- Loggerhead turtles (pictured) hatched in Japan, for example, travel nearly 8,000 miles (12,875 km) to waters off the Californian and Mexican coasts to feed and reach sexual maturity. Then they travel all the way back to Japan to breed.
- Turtles don't have vocal chords but can make sounds by swallowing or forcing air into or out of their lungs. The giant musk turtle, found in Central America, can actually emit a dog-like bark if it is attacked.
- Researchers believe turtles have an acute sense of smell. Additionally, they also have excellent underwater vision - they can identify members of the same species and potential predators - and are sensitive to low frequency sounds and vibrations.
- One (important!) use for turtles' excellent sense of smell is in finding potential mating partners. Males are apparently able to detect pheromones secreted from under the female's shell.
- Unlike most other air-breathing vertebrates, turtles do not have a diaphragm. Instead, they breathe by moving (limbs and neck) muscles connected to the pleural cavity (the area around the lungs).
- Unlike most other species, the sex of some baby turtles (and baby alligators and crocodiles as well) is determined after fertilization – by the temperature of the sand in which the eggs are buried. Research shows that eggs incubated below 81.86 Fahrenheit (27.6 Celsius) will produce male turtles while those above 87.8 Fahrenheit (31 Celsius) will produce females. Eggs that incubate and hatch in between those two temperatures will produce a random mix.
- With rising temperatures of beaches worldwide, there are concerns that more female turtles will be born, thereby threatening gender diversity in the wild.
- World Turtle Day, a global initiative to help protect turtle and tortoise populations in the wild, was first established by American Tortoise Rescue, a nonprofit organization set up in 1990.
- For more on turtle and tortoise conservation, click here.
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