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| Turtles have no teeth. Most turtles are omnivores. The turtle's shell encloses its internal organs. Their eggs have a leathery feel, and are laid in sand and dirt. Turtles can live to be 100 years or older! They have existed for over 200,000,000 years! Tortoise-shell is a decoration that is often used. There is a synthetic tortoise-shell used for decoration, rather than using a real tortoise's shell. Turtles also carry a disease called salmonella. There is a myth that says that the earth sits on the back of a giant turtle! It takes about two hours for a female to lay all of her eggs. Most turtles only lay their eggs at night. |
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| Now here's some more information |
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| Long ago, most turtles lived on land. Then turtles began to spend time in the sea. Now turtles live in lakes and rivers. The shell has changed very little in the last 200,000,000 years. As the years passed, the turtle's legs turned into flippers. Then shells became easier to swim in. Turtles are related to dinosaurs, because they have lived for over 200,000,000 years. Fresh-water turtles are also related to sea turtles. Now some turtles can swim up to 20 miles per hour. Turtles live in rivers and lakes. Turtles spend most of their time in water. They can spend a few hours underwater if they do not move much. When they get cold, turtles climb out of the water to warm up on rocks or logs. However, in a new study, scientists found that turtles are the best reptiles to withstand the cold. Although after the turtle's first winter of freezing, it cannot freeze again. Painted turtles can stay in water without air for 150 days at 32 degrees F. This is how they do it. First their blood drops to zero underwater. At 25 degrees F, only 53% of their body fluid is frozen. |
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| Like other reptiles, turtles lay eggs. Females come ashore at night to be safe from enemies. Moving on land is hard work! The female finds a spot above the watermark that has no roots or stones. Then she digs a hole with her hind flippers. Then she lays many eggs. They look like ping-pong balls and have a tough skin. Then she fills the pit with sand and covers it up. Usually the tide has gone out, and the sun is rising. The mother is heading back to the shore. The eggs hatch a few months later. The babies dig out and head for the water. |
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| Most turtles eat fish, pond insects, and snails. Giant land turtles eat plants. Soft-shell turtles mostly eat fish. To eat, they use their hawk-like bills, not teeth, to eat. Here is a list of body parts of a turtle: |
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| Mouth |
| cavity inside the skull - Food, water, and air enter the body through the mouth. |
| Esophagus |
| Long, narrow tube that connects the mouth with the stomach. |
| Stomach |
| Tubular digestive organ - The stomach is much greater around than either the esophagus or the intestines. Enzymes and acids from glands in the stomach wall break down the food. The enzymes are aided by movement of the stomach muscles, which churns the food around. |
| Liver |
| the largest organ in the turtle's body - It is a large reddish-brown organ. The liver produces bile. |
| Gall Bladder |
| Small, greenish organ located behind the liver. It holds and releases bile from the liver into the small intestine. |
| Pancreas |
| Pale slender gland lying beside the small intestine. It produces enzymes, which it releases into the small intestine via the pancreatic duct. |
| Small intestine |
| Long, coiled tube that at one end is attached to the stomach, and at the other to the large intestine. Nutrients from the food are then absorbed into the body by villi. Villi (singular: |
| villus) are microscopic appendages sticking out from the wall of the small intestine. |
| Large Intestine |
| Also known as the colon, it is connected to the small intestine. The major function of this organ is to reabsorb water from the waste products of the digestive system. Living in the large intestine are large numbers of bacteria. These bacteria can include E coli and Salmonella. While not harmful to the turtle, these bacteria can cause illness in humans handling the turtle. |
| Anus |
| End of digestive tract, where waste (feces) leaves the turtle. |
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