With their innocent and defenseless images lying under their hard shells, turtles may be the cutest sea creature for some of us. Turtles, which we know to be quite slow, actually have many features that you do not know.
From their special diet, some species have even been known to see dinosaurs. Some sea turtles are even known to have lived for over 100 million years. In short, there may be a lot of things you don’t know about turtles. In this article, we have compiled some unknown or little known things about turtles.
11 surprising facts about turtles
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turtles cry
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They have various diets of their own.
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Sea turtles are one of the most antisocial animals
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More than 350 types
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they live long
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They may even weigh a thousand pounds.
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they hold their breath
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Temperature determines the sex of the turtle
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turtles lay eggs
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Turtles love light
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Tortoises and turtles are not the same, the tortoise is a species of turtle.
turtles cry
If you’ve ever had the opportunity to observe a sea turtle out of the water, you may have noticed tears flowing from its eyes. Like many animals, sea turtles do not cry because they are hurt or sad. They mostly use their tears to remove excess salt from their body.
Turtles’ tear glands are located behind their eyes. At the same time, these tears protect the eyes of our lovely friends from the sand. Even though we can’t see it in the water, we can notice the tears when they come ashore.
They have various diets of their own.
Turtles belong to the group of animals that we can call picky about food. Turtles are generally known as omnivores. However, some species are also known to be herbivores.
Aquatic omnivorous turtles feed on jellyfish, squid, mollusks and seagrass. In addition, land-dwelling turtles also feed mainly on greenery and grass.
Sea turtles are one of the most antisocial animals
Turtles don’t care much about social life. When puppies born out of water reach the water, they usually prefer to stay alone until they mate.
Turtles have almost no maternal feeding instincts. Although the mother turtle camouflages the nest and takes care to protect her young, it cannot be said that she does anything in the name of motherhood. They don’t even go back to see if the puppies are okay after they’ve built the nest.
There are more than 350 types
Although they are thought to be under one species because they are all very similar in appearance, turtles actually have more than 350 different species that are unique from each other.
For example; We can give a few examples as hawk-billed, leatherback, flat-back, red-eared and African side-necked turtles. In general, what determines species between turtles is their physical characteristics.
They can even weigh a thousand kilos.
Turtles can range in size from 150 centimeters to 2.30 meters. At the same time, they can go from 30 kilos to 800-900 kilos. Leatherback sea turtles are known to be the largest living turtle species and can weigh up to almost 1000 kilos, which is pretty scary for a turtle.
The largest tortoise that ever lived lived 100 million years ago, 21 ft. that is, it measured exactly 6 and a half meters in size. It is known that these tortoises, called Archelon, became extinct a long time ago.
they hold their breath
Turtles don’t actually breathe as we think, and they don’t have gills. These creatures have the ability to hold their breath for 7-8 or even longer, which makes them quite unique. They can do almost anything underwater. They sleep, they feed, they travel, in short, they are no different from a fish underwater, except that they don’t have gills.
Despite their incredible breath-holding abilities, turtles can suffocate. In fact, this is a common occurrence for turtles. Drowning is often caused by turtles getting caught in a fishing line or not being able to get up for air. There may also be cases of consuming more oxygen than stress when they are caught on a fishing line.
Temperature determines the sex of the turtle
Although it sounds very interesting, the sex of turtles is directly related to temperature, the nest temperature must be low for a male baby and warm for a female, and the sex of the hatchlings can be mixed in temperature fluctuations.
Global warming affects the sex of turtles to a great extent. It is known that the number of male turtle offspring has decreased considerably recently. This may actually be a sign that the lineage of turtles is not very safe.
Turtles are brooding
Yes, turtles lay eggs. Although they do not have a mother-infant relationship with their young, mother turtles care about the safety of their hatchlings and incubate them. Female sea turtles come ashore to mate and lay eggs in the sea and build a warm safe nest for their young.
Land turtles, as we know, mate on land. Yes, it is true that they make strange sounds when mating, but other than that, turtles are known as silent creatures unless they are injured or sick.
Turtles love light
Turtles are also known as photic creatures, just like flies. They always swim towards the light in the sea, and the light that accompanies them at night is known as moonlight reflected in the sea. They use the moonlight as a guide in walking from land to sea.
But these features can have very deadly consequences for them because of us humans. Turtles can become confused and stray from their path due to artificial lights. This is why many times sea turtles can travel many kilometers from the sea.
Tortoises and turtles are not the same, the tortoise is a species of turtle.
Although they are thought to be the same, the tortoise is actually known as the land-dwelling species of sea turtle. The big one among them is that tortoises’ bodies often evolve to survive in harsh, dry, land conditions.
It is known that sea turtles have a structure that allows them to move quickly and stay in the water for a long time, and of course their breathing capacity also changes.
Although turtles are strong, cute creatures that can adapt to many conditions, their lives are in danger for many reasons. Many examples of these dangers can be given, such as smuggling, trade, and occupation of natural habitats.
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