Turtles

Desert Box Turtle

The desert box turtle, also known as the Sonoran box turtle, (Terrapene ornata luteola) is a subspecies of box turtle which is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They are generally terrestrial but occasionally take to the water and are most known for their boxy shell and its structural integrity. The desert box turtles are most active in late June or early July into early October, with greatest activity in July and August. The desert box turtle is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It lives in desert grasslands/shrublands and may face a drier, more severe environment compared with other box turtles in North America. They prefer arid, open prairie areas but have also been found in grassland regions where there is an abundance of yucca around. The most obvious morphological feature of box turtles is their bony boxy shell that consists of scutes covering the carapace. The scutes are used to enhance structural support and give the box turtles their sculpted appearance. In box turtles, the bones in their shell fuse together unlike in other turtles. Their ribs and vertebral column are fused with their bony shell. Other characteristics include a continuous middorsal yellow line on its carapace and the plastron is solid brown with yellow spots and has mottling on its head and legs. Although, some males can have an entirely green head. Their colors are muted for camouflage in the desert and mature turtles are lighter and more muted than the juvenile. Most, but not all male turtles have red irises. Male box turtles also include concave plastrons, thicker tails with the cloaca closer to the tip, and longer rear legs with larger curved claws which are used to grip the female shell during mating. They also have a similar internal anatomy to freshwater turtles except for the fact that they lack a degenerative cloacal bursae because they do not need to hibernate in water. Most adults have about a 125–130 mm carapace length, in where the females were significantly longer than males. It has also been seen that the number of years they can live up to is between 30 and 40 years old.

Flatback Sea Turtle

The flatback turtle is a sea turtle that can be recognized by its smooth flat-domed shell, or carapace, which has upturned edges along the sides. It has the coloration of olive green or a mixture of grey and green. This matches the coloration of its head. The underside, also called the plastron, has a much lighter coloration of a pale yellow. The flatback sea turtle has an average carapace length ranging from 76 to 96 cm (30 to 38 in), and weighs from 70 to 90 kg (about 155 to 200 lb). The females of this species are larger than the males in adulthood and also have been found to have longer tails than their male counterparts. Features of this sea turtle which help contribute to its recognition are the single pair of prefrontal scales on the head, and the four pairs of coastal scutes on the carapace. Another unique feature of this species of sea turtle is the fact that its carapace is found to be much thinner than other sea turtle carapaces.This feature causes the shell to crack under the smallest pressures. The skull superficially resembles that of the olive ridley but details of the braincase most closely resemble those found in the green sea turtle. The flatback sea turtle has the smallest range of the seven sea turtles. It is found in the continental shelf and coastal waters of tropic regions. It does not travel long distances in the open ocean for migrations like other sea turtles. It can typically be found in waters of 60 m (200 ft) or less in depth. It does not have a global distribution like the other sea turtles. The flatback sea turtle can be found along the coastal waters of Northern Australia, the Tropic of Capricorn, and the coastal areas of Papua New Guinea. Its distribution within Australia is in the areas of eastern Queensland, Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, and Western Australia.

Green Sea Turtle

The range of the green sea turtle extends throughout tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. The two major subpopulations are the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific subpopulations. Each population is genetically distinct, with its own set of nesting and feeding grounds within the population's known range. Its appearance is that of a typical sea turtle. Green Sea Turtle has a dorsoventrally flattened body, a beaked head at the end of a short neck, and paddle-like arms well-adapted for swimming.Adult green turtles grow to 1.5 metres (5 ft) long. The average weight of mature individuals is 68–190 kg (150–419 lb) and the average carapace length is 78–112 cm (31–44 in). Exceptional specimens can weigh 315 kg (694 lb) or even more, with the largest known Green Sea Turtle having weighed 395 kg (871 lb) and measured 153 cm (60 in) in carapace length.

Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Hawksbills are named for their narrow, pointed beak. They also have a distinctive pattern of overlapping scales on their shells that form a serrated-look on the edges. These colored and patterned shells make them highly-valuable and commonly sold as 'tortoiseshell' in markets. Hawksbills are found mainly throughout the world's tropical oceans, predominantly in coral reefs. They feed mainly on sponges by using their narrow pointed beaks to extract them from crevices on the reef, but also eat sea anemones and jellyfish. Sea turtles are the living representatives of a group of reptiles that has existed on Earth and travelled our seas for the last 100 million years. They are a fundamental link in marine ecosystems and help maintain the health of coral reefs and sea grass beds.

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle

The Kemp’s ridley turtle is the world’s most endangered sea turtle. Their perilous situation is attributed primarily to the over-harvesting of their eggs during the last century. And though their nesting grounds are protected and many commercial fishing fleets now use turtle excluder devices in their nets, these turtles have not been able to rebound. Found primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, but also as far north as Nova Scotia, Kemp’s ridleys are among the smallest sea turtles, reaching only about 2 feet in shell length and weighing up to 100 pounds. Their upper shell, or carapace, is a greenish-grey color, and their bellies are off-white to yellowish.

Leatherback Sea Turtle

Leatherbacks are the largest turtles on Earth, growing up to seven feet long and exceeding 2,000 pounds. These reptilian relics are the only remaining representatives of a family of turtles that traces its evolutionary roots back more than 100 million years. Once prevalent in every ocean except the Arctic and Antarctic, the leatherback population is rapidly declining in many parts of the world. While all other sea turtles have hard, bony shells, the inky-blue carapace of the leatherback is somewhat flexible and almost rubbery to the touch. Ridges along the carapace help give it a more hydrodynamic structure. Leatherbacks can dive to depths of 4,200 feet—deeper than any other turtle—and can stay down for up to 85 minutes. Leatherbacks have the widest global distribution of all reptile species, and possibly of any vertebrate. They can be found in the tropic and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Adult leatherbacks also traverse as far north as Canada and Norway and as far south as New Zealand and South America. Unlike their reptilian relatives, leatherbacks are able to maintain warm body temperatures in cold water by using a unique set of adaptations that allows them to both generate and retain body heat. These adaptations include large body size, changes in swimming activity and blood flow, and a thick layer of fat.

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

The largest of all hard-shelled turtles, loggerheads are named for their massive heads and strong jaws (leatherbacks are bigger but have soft shells). Their reddish-brown shell, or carapace, is heart-shaped. Their front flippers propel them through the water like wings, and their hind feet stabilize and steer them. While adults males generally weigh about 250 pounds, loggerheads of more than a thousand pounds have been found. The Loggerhead is considered a “keystone species,” meaning that other animals in its ecosystem depend on it for survival. These turtles feed on invertebrates, whose shells pass through their digestive systems and, upon excretion, fall back to the bottom of the ocean for other animals to eat as a calcium source. Predators also rely on loggerhead hatchlings for food, while more than a hundred species of animals—including barnacles, crabs, and algae—live on their shells. These highly migratory turtles have an enormous range that encompasses all but the most frigid waters of the world’s oceans. They prefer coastal habitats in temperate and subtropical regions, though they often frequent inland water bodies and will travel hundreds of miles to reach them.

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

The olive ridley turtle is named for the generally greenish color of its skin and shell, or carapace. It is closely related to the Kemp’s ridley, with the primary distinction being that olive ridleys are found only in warmer waters, including the southern Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Growing to about 61 cm (2 ft) in carapace length (measured along the curve), the olive ridley sea turtle gets its common name from its olive-colored carapace, which is heart-shaped and rounded. Males and females grow to the same size; however, females have a slightly more rounded carapace as compared to males.The heart-shaped carapace is characterized by four pairs of pore-bearing inframarginal scutes on the bridge, two pairs of prefrontals, and up to nine lateral scutes per side. L. olivacea is unique in that it can have variable and asymmetrical lateral scute counts, ranging from five to nine plates on each side, with six to eight being most commonly observed.Each side of the carapace has 12–14 marginal scutes. The carapace is flattened dorsally and highest anterior to the bridge. it has a medium-sized, broad head that appears triangular from above. The head's concave sides are most obvious on the upper part of the short snout. It has paddle-like fore limbs, each having two anterior claws. The upper parts are grayish green to olive in color, but sometimes appear reddish due to algae growing on the carapace. The bridge and hingeless plastron of an adult varies from greenish white in younger individuals to a creamy yellow in older specimens (maximum age is up to 50 years).

Ornate Box Turtle

The ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata) is one of only two terrestrial species of turtles native to the Great Plains of the United States. It is one of the two different subspecies of Terrapene ornata. It is the state reptile of Kansas. The lifespan of the ornate box turtle has been reported to be from 32 to 37 years, with studies showing that males occur about half as frequently as females. The reason for the predominance of females is thought to be primarily due to temperature; incubating eggs at 29 °C (84 °F) produces 100% female offspring, so in the wild a combination of temperature, humidity, and other factors are thought to favor female differentiation.