Tortoise Facts About the Life of a Tortoise

 Most people are interested in reading about tortoise facts that deal with the various aspects of the life of this animal. Captive Bred Tortoise Though several facts have been discovered, there are a lot that are still unknown.

These facts will amaze you when you know more about them. To start with, we are all aware that the growth of tortoises is dependent on the availability of food. This is the reason why most tortoises are always on a look out for more food.

Tortoises can be both herbivores and omnivores. They eat not just grass and other form of vegetation, but they also like to look for live prey and carrion. Like every other creature, tortoises need calcium to build their bones and they also need lots of vitamins and proteins so that they stay healthy.

This requirement is balanced by obtaining vitamins from sun rays and for calcium, proteins etc, they eat food. Tortoises are considered to be slightly lazy animals. They don't go hunting for their prey. Those tortoises that eat insects and other small animals wait for them to come close so that they can instantly grab them.

Earlier there used to exist a species of tortoises named - Stupendemys geographicus. The tortoises from this species were significantly long (as long as 10 feet and weighing about 4000 to 5000 pounds).

However, today the largest tortoise is from the species named Galapagos. This tortoise weighs around 570 pounds and has a tendency to live for long.

The fastest tortoise is the leatherback which can dive 3000 feet (900 meters) in to water at about 22 mph (35 km/hr). The main reason why this tortoise can easily handle this much pressure under water is that it has a special shell which is less rigid when compared to that of others.

There are again various types of tortoises found in different parts of the world. The red foot and the yellow foot tortoises are found in South America. Africa commonly has the Hinge back, Leopard and Spurred tortoises and India is known for its star tortoise.

The Burmese mountain tortoise is found in many countries like Burma, Malaysia, Sumatra, Thailand and Borneo whereas the Spider tortoises and the Common long neck tortoises are found in Madagascar and Australia. The other popular tortoises that are found in Australia are the Macquarie and the Murray River short-neck.

Almost all tortoises have one thing in common - they all have short and stumpy legs. The feet have claws that they use for digging and moving around easily on the ground.

One look at the tails should tell you the gender of the tortoise. The males have longer tails pulled up to the side of their rear shell, while, females have smaller tails that are dropped down.

Another very interesting thing about tortoises is the hibernation. When the tortoises hibernate, they empty their stomach and starve for a long period till the weather turns warm again and they can come out of their hibernation. These are just some of the tortoise facts, the more you want to know, the more exist for you to know.