The first colonists of Madagascar eliminated that island’s giant tortoise ( Geochelone grandidieri) between 2,300 and 2,100 years ago, and European settlers and sailors eliminated giant tortoises from the island of Mauritius during the 1700s and from Réunion by the 1840s. For example, the Native Americans who settled Florida quite possibly ate its giant tortoises to extinction as early as 11,500 years ago. Such exploitation is not a recent phenomenon. In some areas, local populations and even entire species have been hunted to extinction. Turtles and their eggs have long been eaten in many parts of the world, and they continue to be in great demand commercially. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz See all videos for this articleīefore the advent of plastics, tortoiseshell from the hawksbill sea turtle ( Eretmochelys imbricata) was used in eyeglass frames and decorative items. Learn about parrot fishes and hawksbill sea turtles. Some tortoises rarely see water, while other turtles spend virtually their entire lives in it, be it in a single small pond or traveling the vast open ocean. Some species live in seasonally cold climates with growing seasons of only about three months others live in the tropics and grow year-round. There are turtles with carapace lengths (the standard way to measure turtles) of less than 10 cm (4 inches), as in the flattened musk turtle ( Sternotherus depressus), and of more than 1.5 metres (4.9 feet), as in the leatherback sea turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea). The small number of species, however, does not equate to a lack of diversity. How can you spot the tortoises? Take this quiz and find out.ĭespite turtles’ broad distribution, there are not and never seem to have been a great many species of turtles at any time over the course of their long evolutionary history. Let’s get this out of the way first: all tortoises are turtles.
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