Interesting Facts About a Turtle That Will Surprise You
Turtles are beloved animals on earth, yet why do we love these reptiles so much? From their long lives to their shells, there are so many interesting facts about these reptiles that will astonish and amaze.
First and foremost, it’s essential to recognize that turtles and tortoises belong to different species; most significantly, marine turtles tend to live in water while land tortoises prefer living on land.
They Can Hold Their Breath For Five Hours
Sea turtles can hold their breath for extended periods when sleeping or resting due to having large and powerful lungs that store air, and by slowing their metabolism and heart rate while resting underwater. This allows them to conserve oxygen as they sleep underwater.
Turtles’ ability to breathe underwater is essential in their daily lives as it allows them to both reside on land and spend significant amounts of time swimming underwater. Baby turtles use gills for respiration while adults eat marine plants as sustenance – no wonder these mysterious and beautiful creatures are considered such fascinating beings!
Turtles typically surface every few minutes to breathe while awake and active; when resting or sleeping however, they can remain underwater for as much as an hour without coming up for air. Their long flippers function like paddles to move them through the water while their back flippers serve as rudders – and can reach speeds of 35km per hour!
Tortoises possess an amazing sense of smell that aids them in finding food on the ocean floor, and even detect their own body odors! Additionally, their shells can sense when touched; one reason reptile rescue services patch tortoise shells when injured.
Turtles have long been part of human culture, often playing a significant role in ancient mythology. The Iroquois people in North America, for instance, believe the earth was created on its back by Great Turtle. Other cultures revere turtles as celestial beings with supernatural abilities.
Turtles may seem cumbersome and slow on land, but they’re actually surprising fast swimmers in water. On average they reach speeds between 0.9-5.8 mph but when in danger or fear they can even reach 22mph! Turtles make formidable opponents to any predator including saltwater crocodiles and Komodo dragons.
They Can’t Retract Into Their Shell
Turtles are well known for hiding inside their shells, prompting many to ask “can we separate a turtle from its shell?” Unfortunately not – its shell forms part of its skeleton, composed of fused vertebrae and ribs which come together into what’s known as its carapace at the top and plastron at its base. Blood vessels and nerves run through its inner layers that are protected with hard keratin layers just like what coats the outsides of fingernails and hair do – helping it fend off bruises or scrapes!
Turtle shells are essential components of their exoskeleton. While many believe nature created turtles’ shells as protective armor, in reality their purpose began as digging tools – their enlarged ribs allowed early turtles to scoop dirt more efficiently with their front legs, but also made them slower than prey animals. Over time selective pressures caused these enlarged ribs to widen and fuse together into what we know today as their shell.
Researchers have revealed that turtle ancestors’ necks could not retrace into their shells, possibly explaining why modern turtles cannot retract into them either. However, some sea turtles are capable of retracting their necks by contracting vertebrae and folding the head under their backs.
Retracting their necks may serve various functions for turtles, such as hunting or defense; one possibility being faster spring forward of heads to catch unsuspecting prey like fish or other prey. While further research will need to be completed to ascertain this possibility. Regardless of its purpose or function, its retracting ability is an example of “exaptation”, in which traits originally designed for one purpose end up serving another; feathers being an obvious example: nowadays helping birds fly while at first they may have served another function like warming or signalling other rivals away from each other!
They Can’t Hear
Turtles might not have ears that protrude from their sides like humans do, but they still hear. Turtles have low-frequency hearing that allows them to detect low-frequency sounds and vibrations from nearby prey; sea turtles rely on this ability for speedy swimming. Furthermore, turtles can hear their own heartbeat underwater so as to detect changes in water pressure; using this knowledge they can find safe places for egg laying or avoid predators trying to take their food source.
Turtle ear holes are covered with thin flaps of skin to allow vibrations and sound waves to pass into their inner ears, where it is then transmitted back out again for interpretation by their brains. Unfortunately, turtle hearing is not as sensitive as that of humans – Eunotosaurus (an ancestor of modern turtles) was capable of sensing air pressure better than their counterparts due to longer ribs without shells but still managed to sense air pressure changes better than turtles do today.
Turtles might lack sophisticated hearing systems, but their other senses more than make up for this shortcoming. Their great sense of smell allows them to find food and mates as well as detect predators on land; their vision can detect colors, shapes and patterns while sea turtles can even see near-ultraviolet, violet and blue-green light underwater!
Turtles are beautiful animals with distinctive bodies, making them captivating pets to watch. Although their scaled exterior may make them appear strong and sturdy, turtles are actually delicate in nature and should only be handled carefully and with care by you and a certified veterinarian such as Whitesburg Animal Hospital veterinary team in Huntsville Alabama. Contact them now to make an appointment – we look forward to meeting them!
They Can’t See
Turtles are some of the oldest reptiles. Their order, Testudines (or Chelonia), comprises two major groups – Pleurodira and Cryptodira, comprising over 360 living and extinct species respectively. Turtles differ from other amniotes such as birds, mammals and amphibians in that they both breathe air while living both terrestrially as well as underwater environments.
Turtle shells are modified versions of their rib cage. As part of their development process, their rib bones fuse into a solid mass that covers their organs with layers of keratin (found in fingernails). The upper part is known as the carapace while its base, known as plastron is immovable but provides them with protection from pressure or pain through plates covering their bodies (known as scutes).
Turtles spend most of their lives submerged, yet also spend significant amounts of time at the water’s surface–primarily to breathe, lay eggs and sunbathe. Their eyes have evolved accordingly for both environments: flat corneas that refract light similarly to ours and near-spherical lenses which enable them to see well underwater.
Scientists once assumed that turtle shells evolved later than previously believed. However, fossil evidence from an animal called Eunotosaurus that lived 260 million years ago during the Permian period demonstrates otherwise – its ribs had expanded space without having any shell. But in 2015, when freshwater turtle Pappochelys rosinae was discovered it revealed how shells have originated directly from turtle’s vertebrae and ribs over time.
Turtle shells don’t prevent turtles from diving to depths of up to 3,000 feet to find food or mates, but they do help mitigate some of the decompression issues they encounter when diving and returning to the surface. Their density absorbs nitrogen which reduces how much must be released back when diving then back up again into their system at surface.
Finding out if a turtle is male or female can be tricky due to them not becoming sexually mature until reaching an SCL of 4-5″. This process typically takes years for sea turtles and can be determined by measuring its plastron, carapace and head size.