![]() Some of these species, such as snapping turtles and mud turtles, mainly walk along the water bottom, as they would on land. Fresh water turtles have more flexible legs and longer toes with webbing, giving them thrust in the water. The gopher tortoise has flattened forelimbs for digging in the substrate. Tortoises are specialized for terrestrial environments and have column-like legs with elephant-like feet and short toes. ![]() The limbs of Testudines are adapted for various means of locomotion and habits and most have five toes. Due to their heavy shells, turtles are often slow-moving on land. Turtles can live a terrestrial, semi-aquatic, or aquatic life. In contrast to their terrestrial relatives, tortoises, marine turtles do not have the ability to retract their limbs into their shells, the same being true for fellow turtle species with reduced shells. Because the shell is an integral part of the body, the turtle cannot exit it, nor is the shell shed like the skin of some other reptiles. This box, composed of bone and cartilage, is retained throughout the turtle's life. The carapace and plastron are bony structures that usually join one another along each side of the body, creating a rigid skeletal box. The turtle shell has a top ( carapace) and a bottom ( plastron), but its appearance varies between species. Although numerous animals, from invertebrates to mammals, have evolved shells, none has an architecture like that of turtles. Testudines' most notorious feature is having a body encased in a bony shell. This can be further subdivided into tortoises, fresh water turtles, and marine turtles and while all tortoises are turtles, not all turtles are tortoises. There are over 300 known species of turtle on Earth, which can be divided into two suborders: the Cryptodirans ( tortoises) and the Pleurodirans (turtles). They belong to the order Testudines and 14 living families. Turtles are non-fictional air-breathing reptiles native to the planet Earth found on every continent except Antarctica and in salt water, brackish water, and fresh water. Mirage, 1987 TV series, All movies, Saturday Morning Adventures, Movie adaptations, 2014 film, 2016 film, 1987 games, 2003 TV series, 2003 games, 2007 games, 2014 games, Archie, Image, IDW
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