Differences Between Land Turtles and Sea Turtles

Turtles and tortoises, although both belong to the order Chelonia, have many differences in many aspects. Below, we will mainly discuss the differences between land tortoises and sea turtles.

Differences between Land Tortoises and Sea Turtles

One, Different Distribution Areas

Land tortoises are mainly distributed in the continents of Asia, Africa, America, and Europe, and prefer to live in moist shrub forests, tropical rainforests, and slightly dry savannas and highlands; sea turtles are mainly distributed in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Land tortoises mainly live on land or in freshwater, while sea turtles live in the ocean, only coming ashore to lay eggs, and staying out of water for too long can lead to dehydration and death.

Two, Morphological Differences

1. The carapaces of land tortoises are thicker and often arched, such as the radiated tortoise, the leopard tortoise, and other land tortoises have arched carapaces, while a few land tortoises have flat carapaces, such as the pancake tortoise; the carapaces of sea turtles are thinner and smoother, often streamlined.

2. The legs of land tortoises are thick and short, capable of supporting the entire body's weight; the feet of sea turtles are flat, with the forelimbs generally longer than the hindlimbs, which is convenient for swimming. When encountering danger, land tortoises can retract their limbs into their shells, but sea turtles cannot. Moreover, land tortoises have shorter heads; sea turtles have a pair of frontal scales on their heads, which are generally over 1 meter in length.

Three, Habits

Land Tortoise Habits:

1. Land tortoises are terrestrial reptiles that only live on land and are ectothermic animals, which are physically limited by the natural environment. They show extremely high physiological and ecological behaviors in different environments. Different species of land tortoises have different suitable living environments, and they have certain requirements for environmental humidity, temperature, light intensity, and diurnal temperature differences.

2. Land tortoises mainly eat plants, including the roots, leaves, fruits, and vegetables of plants, and can go for a long time without eating after eating. High or low environmental temperatures can affect the appetite of land tortoises, and their appetite may decrease or even stop eating when the temperature is too high or too low. In addition, land tortoises need to be exposed to sunlight for a long time to synthesize a large amount of calcium needed in their bodies through ultraviolet radiation. Sometimes they will also climb into the water to replenish moisture and prevent dehydration.

Sea Turtle Habits:

1. Sea turtles live in the water all their lives, except for laying eggs and basking in the sun, they rarely come ashore. Sea turtles have excellent swimming abilities, and some can swim at speeds of up to 24 kilometers per hour, which is very different from the slow movement of land tortoises.

2. The breeding season of sea turtles is usually in the summer, and female sea turtles usually choose to come ashore at night to find a suitable nesting site on beaches with small slopes and soft sandy soil, lay eggs, cover them with sand, and then return to the sea. The incubation period of turtle eggs is 45 to 60 days, and the hatchlings will crawl back to the sea on their own.

3. Sea turtles mainly eat softbodied animals such as jellyfish and seaweed. During artificial breeding, they can be fed various types of seafood, shrimp, seaweed, crustaceans, and mollusks. Juvenile sea turtles generally prefer meaty foods.