How to Tell a Turtle From a Tortoise
For one thing, tortoises have "tiny elephant feet."
People are prone to stereotyping, but we love it when someone flips the script.
So when Hilary Brown asked us what the difference is between turtles and tortoises, we were happy to learn that our notions about turtles were all wet.
“All of them are turtles,” she says.
The end.
Okay, there’s more to the story but that part is true. “Turtle” is the umbrella term for all 200 species of the testudine group, which includes turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. All turtles have two distinct features: A shell to which their ribs and vertebrae are fused, and a pelvic girdle that sits inside their rib cage. This “compressed anatomical structure,” says Madrak, is what gives turtles their signature lumbering walk.
Turtles can be aquatic,
