Tortoise or Turtle?

[For the right pronunciation of ‘tortoise’, please click here & for the right pronunciation of ‘turtle’,

please click here.]

In American English, the ones living in fresh water (and some on land) are called ‘turtles’; the ones living in sea water are called ‘sea turtles’; the ones living on land are called ‘tortoises’; and the ones living in brackish water are called ‘terrapins’.  In Australian and British English, the ones living in sea and fresh water are called ‘turtles’ and the ones living on land are called ‘tortoises’.

The physical differences between a tortoise and a turtle:

a tortoise

Though both these species belong to the same family, there are some clear physical differences, apar

t from the habitat differences.

A tortoise, in general, is a land animal and so is called a ‘land turtle’; a turtle, on the other hand, is a water animal and so is called a ‘sea turtle’.

* tortoises have stubby elephant-like legs with toes and claws to walk on land and to make burrows <<>> turtle’s legs have developed into flippers to swim in water

* tortoises have harder and dome-shaped carapace <<>> turtles have streamlined or torpedo shaped bodies

a turtle

* tortoises have bulky bodies <<>> turtles have streamlined or torpedo bodies

* tortoises lay hard shelled eggs <<>> turtles lay leathery or parchment-like shelled eggs

* tortoises can draw back their head, legs and tail into their shell cover, carapace <<>> turtles cannot do this – their head always remains out of the shell

* most tortoises do not go into water because if they did, they would drown and die of lack of oxygen in water <<>> most turtles do not go on to the land except for laying eggs on the sandy beaches

* most tortoise species are herbivorous (= eating plant matter only), taking on insects and worms occasionally <<>> turtles are carnivorous (= eating meat) feeding on jellyfish, shellfish, etc. {however, few sea turtles, such as the ‘green sea turtle’, feed on plant matter in their adult stage}

Return to “turtle“.  Return to “tortoise“.