- Now, you may be asking yourself,
does Coyote Peterson always have a tiny turtle
in his pocket?
Well, not always.
But today, we're going to talk about the differences
between the turtle and the tortoise.
Say hello to Buckshot.
(adventurous tribal music)
(enchanting music)
Turtles.
For nearly 200 million years, a reptile
we all know as the turtle has inhabited our planet.
These cold-blooded ectotherms are protected
by a hard bony shell.
They breathe air,
and eat their food using a beak.
Of the 327 known species that exist today,
some live in water, while others can be found on land.
Since childhood, I have been fascinated
by these seemingly slow-moving creatures.
Yet to many peoples' surprise,
they're actually quite speedy,
especially when in the water.
But what about the land-dwelling, stumpy-footed,
slow-moving reptile that somehow defeated
that speedy rabbit?
Yes I am talking about the tortoise.
And the one question people are always asking.
Is a tortoise a turtle or is a turtle a tortoise?
Well, there is an answer to that question.
And to help us get to the bottom of this timeless mystery,
we're going to get the cameras up close
to one of the largest species in the world.
Okay, I hope everybody out there watching is excited,
because right here in this bag,
I've got a bunch of vegetables.
You guys know the vegetables are good for you, right?
- [Mark] Coyote, I don't think anybody's going to get
excited about vegetables, man.
- Well maybe you're not excited about the vegetables,
but you should be excited about who is going
to eat these vegetables.
You guys ready to see a giant tortoise?
- [Mark] How big is this tortoise?
You brought a lot, is it going to eat all that?
- Oh it's gonna eat all of it.
We'll probably run out of food before we're done
filming this segment.
- [Mark] Really?
- If you guys are ready, let's go meet Buckshot.
- [Mark] Buckshot, I like that name.
- Oh yeah, she's my buddy.
(gasps)
There you are.
- [Mark] Oh my goodness.
- Hi Buckshot.
This is the Galapagos tortoise,
the largest tortoise species in the world.
And what we're gonna do today,
is feed her her dinner.
Buckshot, hey, where are you going?
All the food's over here.
First bite.
Oh, there's a big tortoise poop, did you step in that?
- [Man] I may have stepped on the tortoise poop.
- [Mike] Did I do it?
Oh, I might've done it.
Aw, it's on my boot.
- [Coyote] Oh man, dude, oh.
Mark stepped in the tortoise poop.
- [Mark] Oh it's on this foot, too?
- [Coyote] Nope.
- [Mark] It's just that side.
- Okay, Buckshot come this way, away from the poop.
Come over here, come on sweetie.
- [Mark] Buckshot.
- [Coyote] There we go.
Now one very distinct thing about tortoises
and turtles, is the length of that neck.
And she's holding up the entire weight of her body
and stretching out her neck.
And they would do this in the wild to forage
for plants that are higher up.
She could pull them down, fruits and berries.
- [Mark] Listen to those chompers.
- Look at the chomp of that beak.
Now I'm trying to pay attention to where your
camera's at Mark, but I also have to pay attention
to her beak, because you see when she bites out,
she bites and lunges her head forward.
And I do not want to lose a finger in that beak.
Ooh, that's a little close there.
We are in south Florida right now.
And this is one of the only Galapagos tortoises
in captivity here in this area.
And we were given the opportunity to film with her.
Now she is 25 years old and she weighs 140 pounds.
She actually just almost bit my nose right there.
No, my nose is not romaine lettuce.
And she is an absolute giant.
This tortoise weighs just about as much as I do.
I weigh 155 pounds, so this creature is absolutely massive.
And oh boy, she's about to step on top of my leg.
Oh, watch this, this is cool.
Watch how high she can bounce up her 140 pound body.
You see that?
- [Mark] I can't even get it all in the frame, wow.
- It's like a brachiosaurus, eating leaves
at the top of a tree.
Now the Galapagos tortoise is an herbivore,
and they get a large percentage of their moisture
through the food that they eat.
And you can see how juicy,
ooh, getting close to my fingers.
Okay, we're moving on to the next piece.
You can see how juicy a lot of these vegetables are.
Oh here's something.
Look at this.
Oh, look at that.
Look at that.
Look at that, she's standing on my leg.
She is like squishing my ankle.
Ha, I never thought I would be feeding a Galapagos tortoise.
I hope that one day we can end up on Galapagos Island
or one of the islands.
Oh that's better.
Now she's not actually on my ankle.
And feed some of these tortoises in the wild.
How about the cucumber?
Let's have some cucumber.
That is my personal favorite.
There you go.
- [Mark] You know what you should do,
a Lady and the Tramp.
- With the cucumber?
- [Mark] Put one end in your mouth.
- Ready?
(romantic music)
Oh, she's standing on me, ready?
- [Mark] Keep going, one more bite.
- It's too close to my nose.
- [Mark] No no no, it'll be fine.
(vinyl record scratches)
(laughing)
- It's too close, if she gets my nose.
(laughing)
- [Mark] Is there any more cucumber in the bag?
- Oh jeez.
I'm telling you, if I get my finger stuck in that beak,
it is gonna be game over.
She can easily snip off the tip of my finger.
Oow, oow!
She crushed my shin.
Oh she did, maybe she's after these.
At 25 years old, she is only about a fifth of the size.
Now at 140 pounds, they can grow to be close
to a thousand pounds.
- [Mark] Wow.
- Imagine something that is five times this size.
Look at this, this is me hugging a tortoise.
Let me see if I can hear her heartbeat.
No, nothing inside of that solid bone carapace.
Wow, I am in just such awe of this creature.
It is massive, can you believe this?
- [Mark] And this is rare.
There's not like a Galapagos tortoise
in every street corner.
- No, many zoos do have Galapagos tortoises,
but they're actually really hard to take care of
in captivity, so this is a very unique situation for us
to be able to get up close with this animal.
And like I said, I would love to be
on the island of Galapagos someday,
filming these creatures in the wild.
But we certainly weren't going to pass up
the opportunity to get this one up close for the cameras.
- [Mark] So, Coyote, I have a question.
So we were talking about turtles and tortoises,
and I'm a little confused.
What separates a tortoise from a turtle?
- Great question.
Technically all tortoises are turtles,
but not all turtles are tortoises.
Think about that for a second.
Kind of crazy right?
A bit of a brain scrambler.
Let's look at the body structure of the tortoise,
and that's what will help us distinguish this
as being separate from a lot of the aquatic turtles
that we're used to getting up close to.
Alright, you want to do that?
- [Mark] Let's do that.
- [Coyote] Okay, where do you want to start?
- [Mark] Let's talk about size.
- Size, yes.
Massive size, now tortoises are large because
they constantly are feeding, right?
All this animal does on a daily basis
is crawl out into the sun, heat up for a couple
of hours, and then it forages, all day long.
So the more it eats, the larger it grows.
And look at the rugged body structure, right?
Many tortoise species live in rugged environments,
which has allowed them to adapt
to a body structure like this.
Their skin is like leather.
It feels just like an old catcher's mit.
Come on put your hand there and feel that.
- [Mark] It kind of feels like a rhino or an elephant skin.
- Right?
It's interesting that you mentioned elephant skin,
because look at the leg structure, okay?
Both the front legs, no webbing on the feet,
just these big gnarly paws and these stumped claws.
And then the back feet specifically,
here come back here and look at this.
Let me get her to put her foot down.
It looks just like
Oh, don't want to scare her.
- It looks just like an elephant foot.
- Yeah, and that's called elephantine leg structure.
And when she lifts her body up, careful, yeah.
- [Mark] Very sensitive for a big turtle.
- Look how her paw is next to my hand.
I don't want to leave that there too long,
because if she does step down on my fingers,
she can crush them.
That's a bit of a risky position to be in.
But you see that?
They do have claws, and just like turtles,
they lay eggs.
Now let's look at the shell structure.
As compared to a turtle,
a tortoise has a much more domed shell structure.
Turtles are streamlined.
They have narrower shells that allow them
to quickly move through the water.
A tortoise doesn't go in the water.
A tortoise just needs to be able to traverse over land.
- [Mark] Wow, so it sounds like tortoises are specialized.
- Yes.
- [Mark] For living on land.
So is that the big difference?
- I would say the biggest different between
most turtle species and tortoises,
is that tortoises are specialized for living on land.
Now you do have some land turtle species,
like the box turtle and the wood turtle, two of my favorites
that live in the United States.
However, tortoises, you'll never find them in the water.
You're never going to come across a pond and say,
oh there's a tortoise swimming around.
Now a tortoise may crawl into a puddle of water,
to drink and to cool itself off,
but you'll never find them swimming.
They just kind of like (humming),
kind of submerge through like a giant tank.
- [Mark] Is she full?
Nope.
- She's never full.
Well I would definitely say that we learned a lot today.
And that technically all tortoises are turtles.
The thing that distinguishes a tortoise as a tortoise,
is that it is adapted for a life on land.
And I can tell you this much,
you never want to bring a tortoise to a salad buffet.
- [Mark] I think they could wipe out a salad bar
in about 20 minutes.
- Oh yeah, especially the Galapagos tortoise.
I'm Coyote Petersen.
Be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
See you later, Buckshot.
The turtle is an evolutionary phenomenon
that has fascinated both children and adults
since the dawn of mankind.
And whether you think they are adorable or scary,
slimy or scaly, I think there are two things
we can all certainly agree upon.
Turtles are one of the most unique animals on the planet.
And, I like turtles.
If you thought feeding the Galapagos tortoise
was fascinating, make sure to go back and watch
the episode where I fed carrots to another
giant with an appetite, the moose.
And don't forget, subscribe.
So you can join me and the crew,
on this season of Dragon Tails.
- Hold on to it, and let her pull it out of your mouth.
And don't let her take your teeth.
People with dentures sometimes lose 'em here.
Here we go, hold on, hold on.
(coyote howling)