Turtles & Tortoises By Mrs. Hickey 3 rd Grade

Turtle & Tortoise Fun Facts Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. The earliest turtles had teeth and could not retract their heads. Several species of turtles can live to be over a hundred years of age. Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica. Turtles range in size from the 4-inch to the 1500-pounds. The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together. Most turtle species have five toes on each limb. Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell. Hearing and sense of touch are both good and even the shell contains nerve endings. Turtles are one of the oldest groups of reptiles and have outlived many other species. Slide Turtles Down

Fresh Water Turtles  Yellowbelly turtle River Cooter turtle   Spiny Softshell turtle Snapping turtle  Chicken turtle 

The southeastern United States includes one of the world’s richest regions for freshwater turtle diversity. Fresh Water Turtles

Fresh Water Turtle Habitats Most are found in rivers, reservoirs, ponds, and small lakes Most often, chicken turtles chose an older live oak and pine forest for wintering habitat Spiny softshell turtles live in riverine habitats where they often bask on sandbars and bury in clean sand in the river bottoms

Fresh Water Turtle Habitats Most are found in rivers, reservoirs, ponds, and small lakes Most often, chicken turtles chose an older live oak and pine forest for wintering habitat Florida softshell and Spiny softshell turtles live in riverine habitats where they often bask on sandbars and bury in clean sand in the river bottoms

Fresh Water Turtles Food Common Snapping Turtles can sniff out dead animals, which they add to their diet of plants, small birds and fish Yellow bellied and River cooters eat insects and other aquatic invertebrates, and plants Softshells mostly eat meat including crayfish, fishes, and insects that live in the water, also acorns and leaves Chicken Turtles are omnivorous, eating crayfish, fish, fruits, insects, invertebrates, frogs, tadpoles and plants

Fresh Water Turtles Food Common Snapping Turtles can sniff out dead animals, which they add to their diet of plants, small birds and fish Yellow bellied and River cooters eat insects and other aquatic invertebrates, and plants Softshells mostly eat meat including crayfish, fishes, and insects that live in the water, also acorns and leaves Chicken Turtles are omnivorous, eating crayfish, fish, fruits, insects, invertebrates, frogs, tadpoles and plants Move the

Land Turtles  Eastern Box turtle Gopher tortoise 

Land Turtle (tortoise) Habitats Box turtle live in open woodlands and, during periods of inactivity, will find shelter under leaf litter or rotting logs Gopher tortoise inhabits sandhill oak forests, pine flatwoods, oak hammocks, and beach scrub forests from South Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana.

Open woodlands Shelter under leaf litter Shelter under rotting logs Sandhill oak forests Pine flatwoods Oak hammocks Beach scrub forests Box TurtleGopher Tortoise

Land Turtles Range of Eastern Box Turtle and Gopher Turtle You Live Here!

Land Turtle Food Box turtles are omnivores. They will eat almost anything, animal or plant, that they can fit in their mouth. Insects worms and slugs fruit or berry mushrooms vegetable matter carrion Interestingly, box turtles are even able to eat many mushrooms that are toxic to humans. Gopher tortoises are primarily herbivores and feed on many species of low-growing plants. grasses and legumes gopher apple Pawpaw blackberries palmetto berries Gopher tortoises will also scavenge and occasionally feed on dead animals.

 Loggerhead sea turtle Green sea turtle   Leatherback sea turtle Kemp’s ridley sea turtle  Hawksbill sea turtle  Sea Turtles

Special adaptations for life at the sea: large shells for protection tough beak to bite modification of limbs to flippers for swimming Sea Turtles

Special adaptations for life at the sea: large shells for protection tough beak to bite modification of limbs to flippers for swimming

Sea Turtles journey from the beginning… Hatchlings must leave the nest to safely get to the sea to find food, shelter, and warm water

So how do Sea Turtles do it? They must rely on the reflection of the moon and stars on the ocean, the downward slope of the beach, and the lack of vegetation to get them to the sea.

And then they return… When the female is mature and is ready to lay eggs, she returns to the very beach at which she was hatched. She digs a hole, lays her eggs, and then returns to the ocean. … and the whole journey starts over again!

Turtle Parts Carapace-top shell, an outgrowth of bone. Flippers-pond turtle has flat feet, webbed toes for digging in mud, tearing food, courtship, sea turtle has broad flippers for swimming.

More Turtle Parts Plastron-bottom shell Scutes-scales over both shells, made of keratin like your fingernails Neck-pond turtle can fold neck into its shell in S-shape, sea turtle can't

Even More Turtle Parts Nostrils-near the top of head so turtle won't have to stick head far out of water to breathe Beak-no teeth, but jagged beak catches, holds, and slices food Ears-no outside parts to slow it down underwater

Turtle Parts Carapace Flippers Plastron Scutes Neck Nostrils Beak

References Ryder, C. (2003). Navigation of Sea Turtles. Retrieved July 1, Reptiles and Amphibians. Roger Conant/ Joseph T. Collins: ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, “:Sea Turtles Master Migration with Magnetic Memories.” Science. April 29, 1994 v264 n5159 p661(2)