The different types of Turtles

1. The different types of Turtles Where’s the ocean? By: Coral Caiola April 23, 2010

2. Fresh Water Turtles • The Snapping Turtle • Top predator, known for its powerful beaked jaw. • The Red Eared Slider Turtle • Spend most of their time basking in the sun. • The Pig-nosed Turtle • Has a nostrils at the end of a fleshy snout. • The Snaked necked Turtle • Their long neck is comparison to the length of their bodies. Most turtles usually live in swampy areas where there is a lot of mud and vegetation. They love swimming and digging in rocks and mud, turtles also love the warmth of the sun, and can lazily lay there for hours. body • The Spiny Soft-shell Turtle • The most quick and alert swimmers. • The Painted Turtle • They can breathe air and absorb oxygen under water. SnappingTurtle

3. Land Turtle The Box Turtle is the only terrestrial Maximum length is about 8 inches. Females have brown eyes or light orange, Males have red. They will eat insects, plants, and anything they can fit in their mouth. As they grow older their diets change to plant materials. Box Turtles are extremely slow. When frighten they can go completely inside their shell. The average life span is 40 years. But its possible for them to live to 100. They enjoy going into water. But they can not swim like other turtles.

4. Sea Turtles Although I am a sea turtle I am still a air breathing reptile, and need to come to the surface to catch a breath. I can hold my breath for several hours, depending on my activity. • The Leatherback sea turtle. • The loggerhead sea turtle • The Olive Ridley sea turtle • The Green sea turtle • The Hawksbill sea turtle • The Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle

5. Baby Sea Turtles Journey One thing that helps the baby sea turtles survive once they make their way out into the open waters is the hard shells, and their instinctive ability to find beds of seaweeds to hide in.

6. The largest Sea Turtle Leatherback Sea Turtle • They dive deeper then any other turtle. • Leatherbacks can dive to depths of 4,200 feet. • Only one in a thousand hatchlings survive to adulthood. • Leatherbacks are currently endangered. • Some have up to 11 pound of plastic in their stomachs. • Average life span in wild up to 45 years. • Individuals have measured a shell length of 1.85 meters (6 feet). • Weights of 637 kilograms (1,400 pounds). • Leatherbacks primarily feed on jelly fish. • Ridges along the carapace gives it a more hydrodynamic structure. • They can stay under for up to 85 minutes.

7. Sea Turtle Nesting • Sea Turtles nest during the warmest month of the year. • All females return to the same nesting beach every year. • By using her hind flippers she digs a egg cavity. • The eggs are soft-shelled. • The eggs are surrounded by a thick clear mucus. • The female covers the nest with sand by using hind flippers. • The sand keeps the shells moist and maintains proper temperatures.

8. Green Sea Turtles Mating Male sea turtles of all species except leatherbacks have enlarged claws on their front flippers. These help grasp the shells of the females during mating.

9. The Diet of Sea Turtles Green Sea Turtles Jaws adapted for a vegetarian Sea grasses and algae Hawksbill Sea Turtle Jaws meeting at an acute angle Eats coral reefs, sponges, shrimp, squids Loggerhead and Ridley Sea Turtle Jaws are adapted for crushing and grinding Eats crabs, shrimps, jellyfish, and vegetation Leatherback Sea Turtles Delicate scissor-like jaws Eats jellyfish and soft bodied animals Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Jaws are adapted to crushing. Eats crabs, shrimps, rock lobsters and jellyfish Sea Turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, they have found up to 11 pounds in some turtles stomachs.

10. The Diet of a Fresh Water Turtle • Snapping Turtles • Frogs, fish, snakes, small turtles, and small mammals. • Red Eared Slider Turtle • Tiny fish, water snails, and variety of plants. • Pig Nosed Turtle • Plants, fruit, snails, and insects. • Snake Neck Turtle • Tadpoles and small fish. • Spiny Soft Shell Turtle • Insects, snails, and plant materials. • Painted Turtle • Worms and tiny fish.

11. Sea Turtles Main Cause of death Sea turtles can hold their breath for several hours but when in a panic they freak out and use up all their air causing them to drowned or be put in a coma.

12. How Turtles Hibernate Anywhere from late September to November, when the temperature drops. The turtle will find a muddy spot at the bottom of the stream. The Box turtle will dig a hole in the ground. The snapping turtle will dig under a log burying itself a foot deep. Painted turtles will only dig 18 inches into the muddy bottom.

13. Turtles Top Predators Ghost crabs Sharks Killer whales Lager turtles Humans Big fish An uncountable amount of birds.

14. How much do Sea Turtles Weigh

15. Works Cited • www.nefsc.noaa.gov/faq/fishfaq11.html • http://animals.nationalgeographic.com • http://www.thesea.org/TheSea/sea_turtles • http://animalworld.com/encyclo/reptiles/turtles/SpinySoftshellTurtle.php • http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/research/Contribute/box%20turtle/boxinfo.htm • http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/seaturtle/strepro.html • http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/sea-turtle/diet.htm • http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/seaturtle/home.html • http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/education/kids_times_turtle_hawksbill.pdf • http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_turtle.htm