Portal:Turtles
Turtles are reptiles characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield. The earliest known turtles date from 157 million years ago. Turtles are ectotherms—they vary their internal temperature according to the ambient environment (commonly known as cold-bloodedness). However, leatherback sea turtles have noticeably higher body temperature than surrounding water because of their high metabolic rate. Though turtles live in and around water, they breathe air and lay eggs on land.
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The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects, crustaceans, and fish. Although they are frequently consumed as eggs or hatchlings by rodents, canines, and snakes, the adult turtles' hard shells protect them from most predators except alligators and raccoons.
Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle is active only during the day, when it basks for hours on logs or rocks. During winter, the turtle hibernates, usually in the muddy bottoms of waterways. In spring and autumn, the turtles mate. From late spring to mid-summer, the females dig nests on land and lay their eggs. Hatched turtles grow until sexual maturity: 2–9 years for males, 6–16 for females. Adults in the wild may live for more than 40 years.
In the traditional tales of Algonquian tribes, the colorful turtle played the part of a trickster. Now, the painted turtle is the US's second most popular pet turtle, although trapping is increasingly restricted. Habitat loss and road killings have also reduced the turtle's numbers, but its ability to live in human-disturbed settings has helped it remain the most abundant turtle in North America. Only in Oregon and British Columbia is its range in danger of being encroached upon. Perhaps because it is so widespread, four US states name the painted turtle as their official reptile. The species is particularly popular in British Columbia, where businesses name themselves after it, but turtles in the province are down to a few thousand.
WikiProjects related to turtles:
- ... that yellow-bellied sliders, popular as pets, are found in a wide variety of habitats, including rivers, floodplain swamps, seasonal wetlands, and permanent ponds?
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Green sea turtle Chelonia mydas
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- African spurred tortoise
- Aldabra giant tortoise
- Alligator snapping turtle
- Arakan forest turtle
- Archelon
- Blanding's turtle
Bog turtle- Box turtle
- Chelidae
- Cheloniidae
- Chelydridae
- Common snapping turtle
- Cryptodira
- Desert tortoise
- Diamondback terrapin
- Eastern box turtle
- Emydidae
- European pond turtle
- Flatback sea turtle
- Florida softshell turtle
- Galápagos tortoise
- Geochelone
- Geochelone nigra abingdoni
- Geoemydidae
- Giant tortoise
- Gopherus polyphemus
- Graptemys
- Green turtle
- Hawksbill sea turtle
- Hermann's tortoise
- Hoan Kiem turtle
- Indian star tortoise
- Kemp's ridley
- Kinosternoidea
- Leatherback sea turtle
- Leopard tortoise
- List of Testudines families
- Loggerhead sea turtle
- Marginated tortoise
- Mata mata
- Meiolania
- Mud turtle
- Odontochelys
- Olive ridley sea turtle
- Painted turtle
- Pancake tortoise
- Pig-nosed turtle
- Pleurodira
- Proganochelys
- Pseudemys
- Radiated tortoise
- Rafetus swinhoei
- Red-eared slider
- Red-footed tortoise
- Russian tortoise
- Sea turtle
- Seychelles giant tortoise
- Speckled padloper tortoise
- Spotted turtle
- Spur-thighed tortoise
- Terrapene carolina
- Testudinoidea
- Tortoise
- Trionychia
- Trionychidae
- Turtle
- Turtle farming
- U.S. state reptiles
- Western pond turtle
Wood turtle- Yellow-bellied slider
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Extinct and Endangered Species |
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