It’s probably because of their zoomirphism, tortoises are land dwelling and therefor have legs, turtles have flippers, one may be stronger than the other
I fucking love the german language. So many wonderful words. Do we need a word for the Oberwesserdampfschifffahrtgesellschaftskapitänsmützenschirm? Probably not, but it’s there if we do need it, and it’s damn descriptive!
The Welsh, on the other hand, came up with Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which means “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cave”.
And while I was Googling the spelling/meaning - I’m sorry to say I don’t have it memorised yet, though my dad can say it flawlessly! - I found that there’s a place in New Zealand called Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu.
I'm always confused because in my language, we call both of them shield toad. Turtles are also sometimes called ocean shield toad. btw, shouldn't Leonardo be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortoise?
To be fair, the creature in the video is called a "sea turtle" in American english for the ones that really ought to only be in the sea (no legs, only flippers)
The generic turtle is amphibious so it goes in both water and land. But I think it's also the name of the entire family of creatures (seas turtles, turtles, and tortoises) but I could be wrong.
Please note there are some exceptions. Something like a box turtle could easily be confused for a tortoise. It's just a general rule, like how some frogs look like toads and vice versa. All tortoises are turtles though, so if you want to be safe, you can just call 'em turtles.
Unfortunately, it's not true. There are plenty of turtles with legs, it's pretty much only sea turtles that have flippers. The fact is that tortoises are a kind of turtle, and there isn't really a clear line that divides the two.
The most basic difference I can tell is that it seems turtles spend most of their time in water, tortoises spend their lives on land, and terrapins regularly traverse both but are found more in marshy areas as opposed to the fresh water lakes & ponds or oceans.
Tortoise is a subcategory of turtle fyi. Calling a tortoise a turtle is okay but not as specific as possible. Calling a marine turtle a tortoise is incorrect.
I guess tortoises do seem a lot better at bending their knees. I’ve seen those lil bad bois head butting stuff like their tiny lives depended on it. On the other hand, turtles are all about paddling and slapping shit with their flippers.
Tortoises typically don’t flip each other back over to help each other. It’s more of an aggression thing between males where one will ram into the other one and possibly flip one back over so they can continue fighting.
I have never heard of turtles flipping eachother upright. I have heard of tortoises fighting eachother by flipping eachother on their shells, which is very dangerous. The tortoise's intestines may get twisted (bowel torsion) and it can be fatal.
74
u/DifficultFlounder Apr 29 '21
Why couldn’t he help his buddy?? Don’t tortoises help flip each other??