As members of the Chelonian reptile family, turtles, tortoises and terrapins are related. The difference between tortoises and turtles is that tortoises are herbivores that live on land while turtles are omnivores that live in the sea. Terrapins are one type of small turtle that lives in brackish water.
Tortoises and turtles feel their shell very well because there are nerves that lead back to their nervous system. They can feel their shell being stroked, scratched, tapped, or otherwise touched. Tortoise and turtle shells are also sensitive enough to feel pain.
In the United States, a tortoise can absolutely be an emotional support animal. The legislation which defines emotional support animals does not require the creature to be of any specific species, breed, or size to qualify as an emotional support animal.
Depending on the species and its size, a tortoise can travel anywhere between 300 meters to 100+ kilometres in a day. Giant tortoises are notoriously slow travellers while smaller, pet tortoises can travel much farther as pacing around is a natural behaviour for them.
All tortoises start out as these tiny, cute little tanks. Many can easily fit in the palm of your hand. Eventually, though, they can grow to be hulking, heavy, lumbering creatures. This, of course, varies on the species of tortoise that you get, where it came from in the world, and its health as it grows.
Tortoises and turtles can make excellent classroom pets for certain kids. They require some specialized preparation, but once they are established in the classroom, they are fun to care for and can provide a wide variety of valuable lessons to children.
Pet tortoises are often touted as living an impressive 50 to 100 years or more. However, scientists believe that even older tortoises could be wandering around in the wild.
To help you pick the right tortoise for you, we’ve put together this handy list of the best and easiest tortoises to care for.
Tortoises cannot carry weight on their shells. As hardy as they are, they’re not meant to carry things around. Putting extra weight on a tortoise shell can hurt them as they are not designed to be pack animals.
A tortoise and a turtle cannot mate to produce viable offspring. They are genetically incompatible. Even if a tortoise and a turtle where helped to mate by scientific intervention, the offspring would be prone to significant health problems.