Animals

Tuesday, 11 August 2026
27 facts about turtles
27 facts about turtles
The only vertebrates so armored
The first turtles appeared on Earth at the end of the Permian about 240 million years ago. Although the first ones had neither plastron nor carapace, ...

Did you know?

Aye-aye
It is closely related to an extinct giant aye-aye (Daubentonia robusta).
It was 2,5-5 times heavier than aye-aye and occupied south-western parts of Madagascar.
Turtles
The carapace is formed from modified ribs and boney vertebral processes.
On the outside, the carapace is covered with scales, which are keratinized plates made of keratin. These plates protect the shell from scratches and bruises.
Boa constrictor
They are aided in their hunting by their body coloring, which often matches their surroundings.
Their skin color is made up of patches of brown, gray, and cream. The dark brown patches are less pronounced near the head and become more intense the closer they are to the tail.
Arctic fox
There are two color variants of polar foxes – white and blue.
The white variant is white during winter, but it is brown on the back and light grey on the belly du ...
Amur leopard
Female gives birth to up to four cubs after 12 weeks of gestation.
Salamanders
Juveniles
Newly hatched salamander is in a larval form that needs to metamorphose before becoming an adult for ...
Snails
Since 1500, 444 species of snails have become extinct.
Currently, 18 species live only in captivity and 69 are "probably extinct".
Pink river dolphin
It belongs to the family Iniidae.
Northern pike
Young pikes feed on small invertebrates such as daphnia.
As their body weight increases, they quickly move on to larger prey such as flatworms. Once they reach a body length of 4 to 8 cm (1.57 to 3.14 in), they begin to prey on small fish.
Turtles
They use sounds to communicate.
They most often make sounds during courtship and mating however, some species also make sounds to stay "in touch" during migration.