World Turtle Day is observed on May 23. In honor of World Turtle Day, learn a little more about these shelled creatures, many species of which are endangered, with these seven facts about turtles.
* A turtle’s upper shell is called a “carapce” and the lower shell is called a “plastron.”
* Those shells are made up of about 50 different bones, and turtles have nerves and blood supply in their shells.
* Turtles have been around a while – they have existed for approximately 215 million years.
* The leatherback sea turtle is the largest kind of turtle and one can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, which is literally a ton.
* Turtles make sounds by swallowing or by forcing air out of their lungs, and some sound a little weird. The red-footed tortoise sounds like a chicken, the giant musk turtle can sound like a dog and when the female leatherbacks are nesting, they make a sound similar to that of a human burp.
* Their hearing, however, isn’t nearly as good as humans, though turtles can detect some sounds and hear well enough to detect predators.
* Turtles have a very good sense of smell and use that to detect pheromones when mating since it isn’t usually obvious from sight if a turtle is a male or female.
I have to say that I’ve become a turtle fan, too, but my favorite ones are animated. How can you not love Crush and Squirt from Finding Nemo? Crush’s parenting advice of “kill the motor, dude,” is so spot on, and perhaps embodies the wisdom found in turtles. Here’s a video of them:
Sources: Science Kids Animal Facts; Top 10 Weird Turtle Facts from Animal Planet;
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