FACTS ON TORTOISE

 *The shell of a tortoise is prepared from 60 different bones that are all connected to each other.

. *The top part of the shell is called the carapace and the underside is called the plastron.

. *They have strong horny mouths and no teeth.

 *Tortoises do not have flippers and live entirely above water. 

. *They have good eyesight and excellent sense of smell.

 * Tortoises are cold-blooded and generally diurnal.

.* They draw heat from the environment to get warm and walk on land with their round and stumpy feet

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. *They have the same lifespan as humans and some tortoises can live

   from 90 to 150 years.

.* Tortoises are herbivores and eat mainly grass, ferns, fruits, flowers and tree leaves.

   *The female is generally larger than the male in most of the species. Females dig nesting burrows in which they lay 1 to 30 eggs.

 *A tortoise has four legs and a shell that is joined down the sides.

 * They store their sperm and produce fertile eggs three years after the last mating.

 *Females lay 2-12 eggs in deep holes and leave. The hatching takes 90 – 120 days to incubate

 *Tortoises hibernate during winter months and go through a period of starvation to empty their stomachs before hibernating.

 *  When baby tortoises break out of their shells they're called hatchings

      *Giant tortoises can weigh as much as 300 kg (660 lbs) and can grow to be 1.3 m (4 ft) long

*The tortoise is susceptible to parasites and pneumonia

 *The tortoise is the common name for a terrestrial turtle

 *Tortoises or land turtles are land-dwelling reptiles of the family of Testudinidae, order Testudines.

 *The giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands are famous the world over and each of the islands has it's very own species