Facts About Turtles

Video Transcript

"Hi. My name is Tim Cole. I'm with the Austin Reptile Service. I've been keeping reptiles and amphibians for over forty years, and we're here to talk about turtles. Turtles are reptiles. Turtles have been around for two hundred and fifteen million years. The term "turtles" could also encompass terrapins and tortoises. Which, tortoises live on land, generally speaking. Turtles live in the water. One of the exceptions to that would be the native box turtles, because box turtles do live on land. Quite a few different kinds of turtles. A lot of them can be ID'ed by having area field guides, either for state or country, depending where you're visiting. Water turtles can be easily identified by looking at their feet because they will have webbing between the toes. Your tortoises and box turtles do not have webbing. They come in a variety of sizes. Some turtles, as adults, can be only that big (a couple of inches) compared to a leather sea turtle, that can get eleven feet long, and everything in between. You've got Galapagos Tortoises, that can be several hundred pounds. You've got small tortoises that big (a couple of inches) that occur in South Africa."