Turtle: Reptiles of the World!

 The Turtle are of different types and having different characteristic features . They are as follow:

Spotted Turtle: 

The Spotted Turtle is one of the prettiest of North American turtles. Specimens of this species are easily recognised by the series of bright-yellow spots scattered across the blue-black background of its shell. They favour marshy areaas and are omnivorous, capturing food on land and in the water. They prefer cooler temperatures than many other turtles.

Common Box Turtle: 

The North American Box Turtles look like tortoises and are most closely related to pond turtles. Its Carapace(Shell) is high-domed. The shell may close so tightly that not even a blade of grass can be inserted. The group ranges across the eastern and central United States into northern Mexico and is quite common in certain areas.

Gopher Tortoise :

Various Gopher Tortoises of the Southern United States are the only true tortoises of North America. They dig long, underground retreats, which have been traced for over 40 feet and with the deepest part 10 feet underground. They look like tunnels. Many other animals share these tunnel system. They feed mainly on plant material. Gopher Tortoises are endangered and are now protected.

Jaboty or Forest Tortoise :

Two large tortoises range over the forest and Savanna regions of northern and Central South America east of the Andes. The smaller Red-footed Tortoise occupies mostly the open Savannas while the larger Jaboty occupies forest localities. The forest form, when confined in gardens, hides itself in the low vegetation. It reaches a maximum shell length of 27 inches in eastern Peru, though specimens in other parts are little more than a foot long. 

Galapagos Giant Tortoise:

These are a group of giant tortoises that inhabit the isolated volcanic islets of the Galapagos archipelago, some 200 miles from the coast of Ecuador. They were exposed to the world during Darwin's exploration of these islands. Specimens with shells 5 feet long and almost 3 feet in height were once coomon, and these weighed well over 450 pounds. It is remarkable that the tortoises of islands, only 30 miles apart, show such different and characteristics shell shapes.

Aldabra Giant Tortoise:

It once occupied all of the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian ocean; now they remain only on the island of Aldabra where they are quite common. These tortoises represent another case of giant animals on isolated oceanic islands that achieved their size in the absence of predators. The Aldabra Giant Tortoises also used to be huntedfor food and oil. They breed in the spring. There are records of specimens living well over 150 years, but most of the growth takes place during the first 25.

Leopard Tortoise :

This species occurs over the vast savanna areas of Africa and up into the lower mountains. This large tortoise reaches a  shell length of almost 2 feet. They are beautiful animals with a high, domed carapace; each scale of the back is marked with an irregular pattern of black and yellow. India and Africa show several related species of tortoise in which colouration is more geometrically regular. For instance, the Star Tortoise of India shows a radiating series of yellow lines on each dark brown scale.