Happy New Year Everyone!

Butterflies are Free!

I live in a tank.

Turtle House Wisconsin

Turtle House at the New Zoo, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Cozy Up Time

It's getting chilly in this part of the world and I'd like a few furrballs to cozy up with. Anybody interested?

Trampled By Turtles

Nice band nice sound nice name

Click here to visit Trampled By Turtles web site

Exploited

Capital One uses my likeness for their Comcast ad, without permission, I might add:

Bring it On!

I think there may be trouble ahead... but then again, there are four of us!

Meet Zippy

This is the fastest soft-shelled turtle I've ever seen! Check him out!



Go, baby, Go!

Best Poster Ever!

My Cousin: The Diamondback Terrapin

The diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) was once almost pushed to extinction due to a fashion among some members of American society for turtle meat, a trend that thankfully died out before this terrapin did.

The diamondback terrapin has an oblong upper shell (carapace) that is grey, light brown or black and patterned with concentric diamond-shapes. The shell on the underside of the terrapin (the plastron) can range in colour from yellowish to green or black, and may be decorated with bold, dark markings.

The grey or black skin of the limbs and head bears dark flecks and spots, the head is short and flat, and the prominent eyes are black. The large, webbed feet are adapted for swimming, but also bear strong claws that allow the terrapin to clamber up out of the water. Female diamondback terrapins are larger than the males, and have a broader head and shorter tail. Juveniles are patterned much like adults but usually brighter and have rounder shells.

The diamondback terrapin is native to the United States, where it occurs along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Cape Cod to Texas. The diamondback terrapin inhabits the brackish waters of coastal marshes, tidal flats, coves, estuaries and coastal lagoons.

Tortoise, Turtle or Terrapin?

Look at my and my shelled reptile friends. Is it a tortoise, turtle, or terrapin? What you call me or any of my relatives depends on:
    what we look like, where we live and where you live.

Before we get on with this, let's be clear that scientists like veterinarians and such have their own words for us. They call us all chelonians.

But ordinary people use ordinary words. The trouble is that sometimes you don't all mean the same thing even when you use the same words.

What we look like
We all have shells. But some of our shells are covered with scutes while others are have a leathery covering. Some shells are domed, some are like saddles and some are almost flat.

We all have four legs. But some of us have thick stumpy legs with stumpy feet. Some have webs between our toes. Some have flippers that are hardly legs at all.

Of course we have other differences, too, or else our friends wouldn't be able to tell us apart. But these two differences (shells and feet) help to tell if someone is a tortoise, turtle or terrapin because what we look like helps you to know what our natural habitat is.

Where we live
We have three main habitats ...

• We can live on land
• We can live in the sea
• Or we can live sort of in between, spending time both on the land and in the water. Lots of us in this group live in brackish water. That's water that is sort of salty, the water you find at a river mouth where it joins the ocean.

Thanks to www.totallytortoise.com for the information above.

The terms 'turtle,' 'tortoise,' and 'terrapin' are often used interchangeably, and depending on which country you are in, may describe a completely different type of 'turtle.' But before you get too concerned about the common names, let us take a step back and identify them as belonging to one common order, the Chelonia. If it has a shell and is a reptile, then it is going to fall into the order Chelonia, which includes 244 different species
.

For most Americans, the term 'turtle' describes the Chelonians that are aquatic or semi-aquatic. The term 'tortoise' describes a Chelonian that lives primarily on land. 'Terrapin' can describe some freshwater or saltwater turtles, but is not often used.

There you have it. 

The Mothership Arrives