TURTLE AND TORTOISE
1. Context
World Turtle Day 2019: Turtles have survived the dinosaurs; we must make sure they can survive the humans too!
2. World Turtle Day
World Turtle Day is an annual observance celebrated on May 23rd each year. It was founded by the American Tortoise Rescue (ATR), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of turtles and tortoises around the world.
The goal of World Turtle Day is to raise awareness about the plight of turtles and tortoises and to promote conservation efforts to protect these ancient and often endangered creatures.
3. Sea Turtles
- Sea turtles are magnificent animals. The leatherback turtle, for example, is a giant of the seas.
- It is the fourth heaviest reptile on earth weighing around 600 kg and growing up to 6.5 feet long! They are carefree gypsies of the sea, travelling no less than 6000 miles each year between their breeding and their feeding grounds
- Researchers estimate that around 1,000 sea turtles die every year. But the actual deaths can be much, much more than that. More than 60 per cent of the turtle species are under threat of being wiped out from the face of earth. The single biggest factor for that is human activity.
- Turtles have been around for an impressive 220 million years! They have been an integral part of the ecology of plant earth, some of them doing trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic journeys, moving between oceans and beaches and distributing energy between different ecosystems
- If turtles vanish, not only will our ecosystems be poorer, they would be smellier too! Many turtles are great scavengers and clear dead fish from our water bodies.
- They survived the dinosaurs; we must make sure that they survive the humans too!
4. Differences between Turtle and Tortoise
| Turtle | Tortoise |
| The turtle is an aquatic animal | Tortoise is a land animal |
| Turtles have webbed feet and tortoises’ feet are round and stumpy (like tiny elephant feet), suitable for walking on land and burrowing | Tortoises are largely vegetarians while turtles are generally omnivores |
| The small turtles that live in brackish and fresh waters are called terrapins! | Tortoises usually have dome-shaped shells whereas those of the turtles are flat and streamlined |
| The shell of turtles is one of their most distinctive and unique features. It serves as both a protective covering and a structural component of their body | The shell of tortoises is harder and heavier compared to turtles |
| The baby turtles are mostly carnivores | Most tortoises are vegetarians and like munching on flowers, leafy greens and grasses, though some may have an occasional snack of a beetle or a worm |
Source: indianexpress
