05/23/2026
Happy World Turtle Day!🐢
Did you know there are three different kinds? Turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. While they are all similar, they have some differences.
To start, turtle is the umbrella term so all tortoises and terrapins are turtles.
So what makes them different?
Turtle - These guys are primarily aquatic, spending most of their time in the ocean or lake. Their feet are webbed or flippers to help them move quickly in the water. Turtles have more flat smooth shells so they can glide through the water. They eat all sorts of goodies they can find in the water including fish, marine plants, and some larger species will even eat jellyfish!🪼
Tortoises - These guys are land dwellers. They like to live where it's hot and drier. Their feet are elephant like, big with long claws to help them dig in the sand/dirt to keep cool. Tortoises have taller, more dome like shells. They like to eat all sorts of plants including grasses, weeds, and even cacti!🌵
Terrapins - These guys are semi-aquatic so they spend some of their time in the water and the other part of their time on land. Terrapins tend to have taller, dome like shells. They like to eat small fish, insects, and worms!🪱
Here at Zootah you can feed some of our tortoises! You can purchase a tortoise feeding at the gift shop or online at zootah.org.
Large turtle feedings are at 10:30am and small tortoise feedings are at 4:00pm. Important!: You must arrive at least 30 minute before your scheduled feeding.
Now that you know the difference, can you tell which photo is of a tortoise and which one is a turtle?
