What kind of turtle has claws

Large turtles tend to swim less than smaller ones, and the very big species, such as alligator snapping turtles, hardly swim at all, preferring to simply walk along the bottom of the river or lake. As well as webbed feet, turtles have very long claws, used to help them clamber onto riverbanks and floating logs, upon which they like to bask. Male turtles have long claws, used to stimulate the females in mating periods. While most turtles have webbed feet, some, such as the pig-nosed turtle, have true flippers, with the digits being fused into paddles and the claws being relatively small.

These species swim in the same way as sea turtles. Sea turtles are almost entirely aquatic and have flippers instead of feet. Sea turtles fly through the water, using the up-and-down motion of the front flippers to generate thrust; the back feet are not used for propulsion, but may be used as rudders for steering.

Compared with freshwater turtles, sea turtles have very limited mobility on land, and apart from the dash from the nest to the sea as hatchlings, male sea turtles normally never leave the sea.

Females must come back onto land to lay eggs. They move very slowly dragging themselves forward with their flippers. As mentioned before, the outer layer of the shell is part of the skin; each scute or plate on the shell corresponds to a single modified scale. The remainder of the skin is composed of skin with much smaller scales, similar to the skin of other reptiles. Turtles do not molt their skins all at once, as snakes do, but continuously, in small pieces.

When kept in aquaria, small sheets of dead skin can be seen in the water often appearing to be a thin piece of plastic having been sloughed off when the animal deliberately rubs itself against a piece of wood or stone. Tortoises also shed skin, but a lot of dead skin is allowed to accumulate into thick knobs and plates that provide protection to parts of the body outside the shell.

The rigid shell means turtles cannot breathe as other reptiles do, by changing the volume of their chest cavity via expansion and contraction of the ribs. Instead, turtles breathe in two ways. First, they employ buccal pumping, pulling air into their mouth, then pushing it into the lungs via oscillations of the floor of the throat. Secondly, by contracting the abdominal muscles that cover the posterior opening of the shell, the internal volume of the shell increases, drawing air into the lungs, allowing these muscles to function in much the same way as the mammalian diaphragm.

Mouth, Pharynx and Cloaca Food, water and other nutrients are ingested into two main cavities in most turtles, the mouth and the pharynx. These two cavities are located inside of a turtles skull. However, sea turtles also have the ability to take in oxygen through their cloaca.

This special feature is used in extreme situation typically to keep the turtle alive when oxygen levels are low i. Glottis and Larynx The glottis of the turtle is a small opening positioned behind the tongue that acts as a barrier between the pharynx and the larynx when swimming underwater, diving or eating. The larynx is connected to the glottis and leads to the trachea.

It is considered to be the upper most portion of the respiratory duct. If you have ever heard a turtle hiss and wonder if it means that they are mad…rest assured, they are not mad. They are just frightened. What they do is to expel the air within their lungs out as fast as they can, so that they will have room for their appendages to fit into the security of their hard shells.

With rush of air leaving their bodies, turtle makes a hissing noise. That way many believe the turtle is ticked off and warning them to stay away. Most vertebrates have similar digestive systems and the turtle is no exception. Turtles are not strictly herbivores. All species are found to eat at least some meat which causes them to have powerful digestive enzymes. In addition turtles swallow their food with very little chewing. Food particles are often whole or in fairly large chunks. The salivary glands of the turtle help to soften and break down the food to make swallowing possible.

Mouth and Tongue The mouth of a turtle is a cavity found inside its skull. The tongue is flat and wide and fastened securely to the bottom of its mouth to prevent it from moving. Esophagus and Stomach The esophagus is tubular, digestive structure that is connected to the stomach.

The walls of the organs in the digestive system are composed of smooth muscle that helps to push the food through the system and aids in decomposition of the food by churning during the digestive process.

You may also want to place the turtle between your thighs or on a table or hard surface. Alternatively an probably better , you can have someone help you with the trimming process. The nail clippers you are going to use need to be proportional to the size of the turtle and its nails.

Now, you need to simply clip the nails. When clipping the nail try to keep it as close as possible without hitting the quick. This is the part of the nail that receives blood flow. You should be able to see exactly where and what to trim when you use a cat nail trimmer. Once you are done with front nails, you can then move onto the back nails. If that happens, use the cornstarch to treat this bleeding. Simply dab some corn starch onto the tip of the nails, just enough to stop the bleeding.

However, turtles usually squirm when you hold them. Turtles are resilient creatures and they should be fine in no time at all. If you do cut too close to the quick, keep an eye on the injury and ensure that it is treated in order to avoid infections. It is always a good idea to have another person help you with the trimming process. The other person can hold down the turtle so you can use both hands to trim the nails. Lastly, you need to be patient. Do not shake the turtle or even jiggle it in an attempt to get it to retract its limbs.

This is very stressful for the turtle and can even lead to injuries. Simply avoid this. The coastal plain cooter Pseudemys concinna floridana has 10 or fewer stripes on the head and neck. The plastron of this species is yellow and lacks any patterns. If the sea turtle has no scutes, then it is a leatherback sea turtle Dermochelys coriacea. If the sea turtle has five pleural scutes and a squarish first vertebral scute with pores in its bridge scutes and four or five inframarginal scutes, it is the Atlantic ridley sea turtle Lepidochelys kempii.

If the sea turtle has four pleural scutes and a triangular first vertebral scute with two pairs of prefrontal scales on its head then it is the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle Eretmochelys imbricata. If the sea turtle has five pleural scutes and a squarish first vertebral scute with a large ovoid plate on its dorsum, and four or three inframarginal scutes on it bridge, then its a loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta.

Land tortoises unlike their aquatic cousins turtles prefer to dwell on land. They are poor swimmers and have heavier shells. Likewise, their feet are short and sturdy instead of webbed like most freshwater turtles. All of these characteristics make them better suited for the land. There are several tortoise species in the world. Currently, there are about 50 tortoise species alive. We will be covering the most popular species.

These tortoises have pointed scutes on their carapaces. These look like spurs. They are about 3 ft long and have brownish shells. As you can see, spurred tortoises are large.

In the wild, they are endemic to Sub Saharan Africa. Greek tortoises Testudo graeca also have pointed scutes on their carapaces. However, unlike the spurred tortoises , the Greek tortoises grow to be about only 7 inches. Their shell is also olive-green instead of brown. Russian tortoises are about 8 inches long. They have round shells and brownish-black scutes. The lines in-between their scutes are yellow. This contrasts with their black coloration. Watch out for the contrasting yellow and black coloration when identifying a Russian tortoise.

Indian tortoises have a star pattern on each of their carapace scutes. They are also about 8 inches long. The red-footed tortoise has red markings all over the feet.

The red spots can also be found on the face. The carapace is black with yellow coloration. They are native to South American but they are also found all over the world as pets. They are generally 11 to 14 inches long. They are about 5 to 7 inches long.

Their shell is darkly colored with yellow lines in between the scutes. There are yellow spots all over their brownish skin. Turtle identification is important.