Land turtles are a fairly popular type of pets among Russian animal owners, which is still considered quite exotic. In our country, only a few species of turtles are widespread, so only a few animal lovers know that there are about 40 species around the world with different lifespans.
What types of turtles live on Earth
A similar division of all land turtles existing on our planet occurs, mainly in accordance with the geographical origin:
- American turtles (coal, Argentinian, forest and elephant), which have a shell length of 25 to 122 centimeters and inhabit the territory of South America and the Galapagos Islands;
- Asian (brown and depressed) with a shell length of 30-60 centimeters. They live in the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia;
- land turtles (star, leopard, spurred, Burmese), which have a shell distance of 25-70 centimeters and live in the steppe zones of Africa and South Asia;
- Indian (yellow-headed Indian, Indian and medicinal) with a shell length of up to 30 centimeters and a habitat - South and Southeast Asia;
- Madagascar turtles (radiant and Madagascar beak-breasted) with a shell length of 40-50 centimeters. Are endemic to Madagascar;
- giant with a shell length of up to 120 centimeters;
- gophers (desert western gophers, Texas gophers, Mexican gophers, polyphemous gophers). The maximum length of their shell is 40 centimeters, and their habitat is the United States and Mexico;
- flat-bodied turtles;
- elastic with the length of the shell in adults in 15-18 centimeters and spread in Kenya and Tanzania;
- spiders (spider and flat-tailed) - endemic to Madagascar. Have a maximum shell length of 15 centimeters;
- South African stellate turtles (geometric, ocellated and knobby) inhabiting South Africa;
- European land (fringed, Mediterranean, Balkan and Egyptian) with a maximum shell length of 35 centimeters;
- Kynyx turtles (scalloped Kinyx, smooth);
- Central Asian turtles.
The latter species of turtles has a very interesting characteristic. Central Asian turtles are able to hiss like a gyurza snake.
Life span of land turtles
In addition to their famous slowness, land turtles are distinguished by a very long lifespan. So representatives of some species can live for 50, 100, 120 or more years, depending on belonging to one of them, as well as on the conditions and quality of life.
But the leaders among all the species are the giant turtles, which are endemic to the island of Aldabra.
Besides the fact that they are very rare, some representatives of this species lived up to 150 years.
The most famous in the animal kingdom is the Advaita turtle, which died of old age on the night of March 22-23, 2006 at the age of 150-250 years. Important evidence for the longevity of this animal comes from authoritative testimony from Jogesh Barman, Minister of Agriculture of West Bengal in India. The official claimed and maintains that the turtle was still a favorite of Lord Clive, the hero of the Seven Years' War, who took part in the East India Trading Company. The Englishman died in 1774, and the animal lived with him for the last few years until the death of the lord.
