TESTUDINES

Testudine

Turtles and Tortoises

Testudine reptiles are encased in a body shell and plastron. This includes turtles and tortoises. It contains 14 families of turtles. Some easy and main ways to tell tortoises from other turtles (tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises ) are that tortoises tend to live on land and have more domed shells. Tortoises also tend to live longer (the longest-living turtle is the Galapagos tortoise). They tend to be larger. (Even though the largest turtle is the loggerhead turtle), this is as opposed to turtles who have more flat, aerodynamic shells to live underwater. Turtles also tend to be smaller.