Turtles, tortoises: are they the same? Are they different?
We’re going to get to the bottom of it today.
Jye: All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises.
Igloo...
Igloo is a giant Aldabran tortoise.
He is the largest tortoise species in the world.
The largest on record was 305 kilogram wild specimen.
But Igloo here, he's about 160 kilos and he's honestly a big old puppy dog.
A turtle or a tortoise, they often get confused.
Can you tell me, is there a difference?
There is. So all tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises.
So, what that means is, tortoises, they evolved from turtles at one stage.
But how you tell the difference between them, is their feet.
So, tortoises, they've got elephantine feet.
Essentially what that means is that they walk on their toes,
where as turtles, they will actually walk on the backs of their feet.
And that's the main difference.
Other differences are the shell with tortoises.
Except for the elongated tortoise, they've got quite spherical and dome like shells
and they're also herbivorous, whereas a lot of freshwater turtle
species, they're either omnivorous or even just carnivorous as well.
Let's take a look at these feet.
I have actually never noticed, that they stand on their toes.
[Jye] What elephantine feet means is that they've got a fat sack
just above their toes.
And so, that fat sack allows them to be able to walk on their feet
and essentially prevent it from getting things like arthritis in that thing
because they're walking all day every day and their feet are right underneath them.
Whereas turtles, their feet are actually by the side as well.
Igloo is an absolute sweetheart.
Is he one of your favorites?
He's my favorite Aldabran tortoise.
My favorite tortoise at the zoo, though, is a little tortoise.
An elongated tortoise us that we call Hef.
He's up at the tortoise habitat.
And essentially, whenever you do the morning
rounds, whenever you maintain his habitat,
he actually comes up for a good old butt scratch, which is really cool.
Do you think you could show us that?
Bloody oath.
All right, let's go.
[Mel] Jye, I'm guessing that this is your mate Hef?
Oh yeah.
Hef, he loves a good old butt scratch
Look at him, usually he'll start dancing about.
yeah he likes that
He’s stopped in his tracks
because he knows exactly what's happening.
So Hef here is an elongated tortoise.
Really cool species of tortoise.
They're from Southeast Asia.
The other tortoises that are in this habitat
Are radiated tortoises
There’s nine females and they are critically endangered as well
and they're from southern Madagascar.
and their size is about that 12 to 14 kilogram mark.
Now tortoises, they actually have their own unique shell patterning.
It's essentially like our fingerprints.
In regards to tortoises, they can actually feel when you pat their shell.
So they've got all sensory receptors throughout their shell
Now, the way she's sitting currently, she kind of looks like she has flippers.
So where does a sea turtle land in all of this?
So sea turtles are classified as an aquatic turtle,
because the only time they come on to land is to lay their eggs.
freshwater turtles, they're classified as semi-aquatic.
They both spend a little bit of time on the land
and a lot of time in the water and then tortoises, they’re terrestrial.
So sea turtles, they sort of fit into their own category.
I would love if we can go meet one of my favorite tortoises at the zoo.
So you want to head that way?
Yep!
[Mel] Alright Jye, now I'm excited because this is one of my favorite tortoise
species to work with, but I'd love to learn a lot more about them.
[Jye] So this is Franklin and Shelley.
Franklin and Shelley are Indian star tortoises.
They're critically endangered,
and their distribution range is in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Very true. I remember the day they came Jye and they were
about a 50 cent- Australian 50 cent piece in someone's hand.
They were that small. I can't believe it already this big.
These guys are obviously herbivorous, so they'll love the grass
that you put them on and they'll always eat it.
But also their feet are really great to go and show that nice elephantine feet.
[Mel] Yum! Breakfast.
[Jye] Yeah, he's got a little bit of breakfast there.
That is so cool.
They’re such a gorgeous, gorgeous turtle species and so pretty.
Unfortunately, it's their beauty that does get them into so much strife.
And you can actually see them in Robert's Reptile House.
The next time you visit Australia Zoo,
Of course, our irwini turtles.
The Irwin's turtle is a new exhibit here at Australia Zoo, and in fact,
it was a turtle that Steve Irwin himself discovered.
And the main difference between freshwater turtles and tortoises
is that they've got webbed feet on both their forelimbs and their highlimbs.
[Mel] My favorite thing about it is some of the females get pink noses.
So cute.
Which is a really cool little fact and it's something that's pretty exclusive
to this species of turtle, which makes them all the more beautiful.
Well, thank you so much for telling us
the difference between turtles and tortoises. That was very helpful.
No worries at all. Well, thank you for allowing me
to have the time to be able to go and tell the difference.
But I've got to go off and do the tort demo.
It is our most fast paced and action packed demo of the day,
so I better get there.
I hear good things.
Have fun.
Well, I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about
our tortoises and turtles today.
Comment below if you want to know more and stay tuned for our next video.
It's going to be ‘exsssscellent’.
something I hear
every single day at the zoo is and I probably shouldn't say that.