WORLD TURTLE DAY!

WORLD TURTLE DAY!

It’s World Turtle Day and we’re celebrating our shelled reptile friends with fun facts and photos! Tell us what you love about turtles and tortoises!

• Turtles have been on the earth for about 200 million years.
• Box turtles can live to be over a 100 years old.
• Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica.

• There are seven species of sea turtles. The Leatherback is the largest.
• The top shell is called the carapace and the bottom shell is the called the plastron.

• Turtles and tortoises are attached to their shells.
• The shells are part of their skeleton.

• The coverings on the top shell are called scutes.
• Scutes are made up of keratin, the same protein that makes up human hair and nails.

• Turtles don’t have ears.
• There are about 250 species of turtles.

• Some sea turtles can dive as deep as 3,000 feet.
• Turtles are reptiles.

• Turtles lay eggs.
• Hatchlings have a special tooth that they use to crack open their eggs.