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The page cited to corroborate that the Oldest living vertebrate is a Koi called Hanako seems pretty iffy. It would seem that more rigorous citation is needed.
"All land tortoises are herbivorous."
Hang on, my land tortoise eats slugs. This site [1] has a diet for tortoises which includes "< 5% High-Protein Content Foods. Dry maintenance dog food, primate chow, pelleted parrot chows, tofu, various cereals (crisped rice, corn flakes, grape nuts, bran flakes, etc), sardines with bones, whole mice, baby mice, large carnivore diets, and scrambled or hard boiled eggs (with shells). Increase to 10% for hinged-back, angulate, brown and impressed tortoises."
Can someone who knows their tortoises please clarify. Fabiform 05:55, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Reptiles often eat differently in captivity than in the wild.-- Piper Stone 08:21, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)
http://users.vcnet.com/rrenshaw/hanako.html << This offers another source on the age of the Hanako Koi. It would seem to have a high credibility being written by the owner of the fish (it's a translation but nevertheless). Wuku ( talk) 00:54, 17 July 2011 (UTC)
Look, I like tortoises, too, and it's sad they're endangered, but do we really need nine images on this article? Makes it awfully slow to load for those of us still 56K. . . . . . Soundguy99 19:46, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
Heres another picture should anyone want to use on the page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tortoise_in_grass.JPG
And Heres one of a Sea Turtle to be added to the gallery http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turtle_in_Omaha_Henry_Doorly_Zoo.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by Algy3289 ( talk • contribs) 16:35, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
The image in the upper right-hand corner of the tortoise page is mislabeled. That is an Aldabra not a Galap... HLogicNet ( talk) 03:17, 7 August 2011 (UTC) This now has been corrected. HLogicNet ( talk) 10:11, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
Er, this sounds pretty stupid. Maybe someone should replace the word "magic" with something more accurate and scientific sounding.
I created a new page where people can keep adding pop culture content, so that this page can focus on the biology. We have done the same at Frog, creating Frogs in popular culture. Hope everyone agrees that this is a good idea. Best, Samsara contrib talk 12:25, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
According to Reuters 1, Robert Clive's tortoise's name is spelled "Addwaitya;" according to the BBC [ 2], it's spelled Adwaitya. Can anyone confirm the proper spelling of the tortoise's name.
-- Jvsett 17:46, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
Are you going to edit the bit about Tui Malila in light of the information about Robert Clive's tortoise?
EvaXephon 02:16, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
The first part of the page before the contents needs to be cleaned and cleared up. First it says that Tui Malila is the oldest ever at 188 or 192. Then it says that another tortoise, Adwaitya, "was thought to be over 250". I know the former may be considered the oldest because the latter hasn't been scientificly tested or something, but it should be re-written to sound clearer.
It seems entirely contradictory to include both Tui Malila and Adwaitya as the oldest living Cheloniinae. However, claims that Adwaitya is now the oldest living Cheloniinae are entirely unverified having only just been mentioned in the press. If Adwaitya was indeed over 250 years old why wasn't he verified as the oldest 60 years ago when he would have been older than Tui Malila?
An example of a vauge reference in the press states:
"We have documents to prove that he was more than 150 years old, but we have pieced together other evidence, like statements from authentic sources and it seems he is more than 250 years old."
As of now Tui Malila is verified as the oldest living Cheloniinae by the Guiness Book Of Records and until this officially changes Tui Malila should remain the oldest. I will edit this accordingly. Kingofspades 10:49, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
I did a clean up on this a little while ago, to make it more consistent, and more readable. I used an conservation status template that has since been obsoleted. I've had a look at the new conservation status markup and I don't understand it well enough to apply it. I'm going to hunt around for an article which employs it, so I can use it as a model. If anyone knows of any good examples, let me know. In the interim, it would be great if anyone who knows it could markup the partial species list here for the new scheme.
I have not verified any of the status attributions; in my tidy up all I did was format and clean, not verify.
It's also unclear from the page why this is only a partial list, what the criteria are for inclusion in the list, and what would be required for this to be designated a full species list. CastorQuinn 03:52, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
that sounds strange... i'm assuming this is some sort of vandalism. 14:17, 24 February 2007 (UTC) fix 208.103.184.115 14:18, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
According to this graphic accessed from the page about terrapins, " box turtle" is the US word for a tortoise. Should the two pages be merged? Wavehunter 21:08, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
The graphic is a bit oversimplified. 'Tortoise' has a specific scientific meaning- a member of the Family Testudinidea, and American Box Turtles are the Family Emydidea, Genus Terrepena. The US may call a Box Turtle a 'tortoise' (although Europeans are more likely to call them "Box Tortoises", we do not use the terms 'Box Turtle' and 'Tortoise' interchangeably. Madkins007 ( talk) 05:07, 22 August 2010 (UTC)Madkins007
I agree with Madkins007. The term 'turtle' is more likely to be used as a blanket and individual reference to Chelonids, turtle, terrapin or tortoise, in the USA. I have not heard the term 'Box Tortoise' used in American English. In reference to Terrepene sp. ( box turtle), 'terrapin' or 'tarpin' are frequently used in the rural (Eastern) USA - and 'Box Turtle' would never be used to refer to a Tortoise. As a side note, the term 'Marine Turtles' is more commonly used and more accurate than is 'Oceanic Turtles' as shown in the graphic. HLogicNet ( talk) 12:10, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
Think that you should add a link to Turtles and tortoises in popular culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_and_tortoises_in_popular_culture —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.242.55.93 ( talk) 12:02, 30 September 2007 (UTC)
Im going to remove the following as it doesnt really make sense. Tried to find a source for it but no joy. If anyone can find a source please put it back in because i'd like it to be true but suspect it isnt
Use in carrier bag production
Tortoise droppings have recently been used by EcoWorld Ltd in the development of ecologically friendly carrier bags; the chemical makeup of Tortoise feces shares the 1-4 hydrogen bond which is critical to the strength and durability of plastic, and by super heating it is possible to create a strong carrier which leaves virtually no carbon footprint, and will decompose within two months of being buried..[citation needed] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Timmywimmy ( talk • contribs) 20:08, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Do land tortoises swim at all? How long can they swim for? If one puts them in a bucket of water what will happen? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.112.206.81 ( talk) 19:14, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
Not Tortoises I'm afraid... Not even close. Deep sea invertebrates in marginal environments are waaay older (multi-centennial)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567562/Clam-405-is-oldest-animal-ever.html
86.148.126.197 ( talk) 22:19, 22 March 2009 (UTC) Atre
They are suspected to be the terrestrial animal with the longest lifespan. HLogicNet ( talk) 12:12, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
My wife is from Vietnam and says that tortoise meat there is more expensive "and tastes better" than the meat from aquatic turtles. Not sure if this is true and don't think that I can cite wife to change the article :-) so I am wondering if anyone else knows anything about this and can provide references to add this tidbit to the article. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.133.42.16 ( talk) 17:04, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
Book Information The Last Tortoise: A tale of extinction in our lifetime, by Craig B. Stanford. Published by Harvard University Press. Craig Stanford, professor of biology and anthropology at the University of Southern California, recognizes 45 species of living tortoises. Wloveral ( talk) 13:49, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
There is nothing in the article about the evolution of tortoises. I would also be fascinated to learn how a tortoise shell grows as the animal ages. Africaneye ( talk) 10:15, 31 August 2010 (UTC)
I have begun editing this article starting with the taxonomy, I will bring it into line with the Chelonian Research Institutes 2009 Checklist for turtles as this is probably the best resource available. It is used by the IUCN and most Turtle biologists. Any comments please contact me. Faendalimas ( talk) 13:15, 11 November 2010 (UTC)
So which species are commonly used as pets? no section on care as pets?
this all seems like a massive hole. I am no tortoise pet keeper so I won't try and start a section. Wuku ( talk) 00:46, 17 July 2011 (UTC)
I've marked this taxonomy section as out of date and the infobox subgroups as dubious as available references conflict. Relevant references
IUCN turtle taxonomy working group checklist 2011 and all previous years does not mention Testudininae at all, but does give other subfamilies. Xerobatinae wouldn't be mentioned because they only deal with extant after 1500AD.
Testudininae is also absent from Fritz's checklist of 2007.
Zootaxa 2011 also by Fritz, page 42 mentions 'Testudininae in the following: "Epeisodion After McDowell’s (1964) pioneering osteological study revising the ‘aquatic Testudinidae’, Clemmys was restricted to the four Nearctic species Clemmys guttata , C. insculpta , C. marmorata and C. muhlenbergii, while the remaining Old World species were transferred to the genera Mauremys and Sacalia. McDowell (1964) discovered that most Old World and New World freshwater turtles represent highly distinct groups. Consequently, he placed all Old World species plus the extraterritorial Neotropical genus Rhinoclemmys in the subfamily Batagurinae and the New World species plus the Palaearctic genus Emys in the Emydinae. These two subfamilies constituted, along with land tortoises (Testudininae), the family Testudinidae in McDowell’s (1964) classification. This general scheme currently stands, although each of these groups is now treated as a full family and the name Geoemydidae replaced Bataguridae because of priority reasons (Fritz & Havaš 2007; Rhodin et al. 2010). McDowell (1964) real- ized the close relationship of the four Nearctic Clemmys species, of Terrapene and the Old World species Emys orbicularis, all of which were placed by him in the ‘ Emys complex’. Yet, McDowell (1964) did not include Emy- doidea blandingii in this group, but in the distinct ‘ Deirochelys complex’, together with Deirochelys reticularia. In doing so, McDowell followed Loveridge & Williams (1957), acknowledging that the morp hological similarity of skull, neck, and thoracic rib morphology of Deirochelys and Emydoidea reflects a close relationship."
My reading of the Zootaxa text is Testudininae is historic, as 'these groups is now treated as a full family' does not apply to Testudininae because it is not a family. Regards, SunCreator ( talk) 22:27, 21 April 2012 (UTC)
In the part that discusses the usage of the word "tortoise", it is claimed that Americans refer to all land-dwelling chelonians as "tortoises" including "box tortoises". The link itself gives lie to the claim because the Wikipedia article it leads to is entitled box turtles which is consistent with American usage. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.211.254.178 ( talk) 22:50, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
I am thinking that the taxonomy section does not really need to list all the species. genera with references would be fine. The template at the bottom could be updated to include all the species. Seems a bit of duplication. Cheers Faendalimas talk 13:14, 14 June 2014 (UTC)
There is a fundamental problem with the presentation of this article. The definition in the lead section is presented as definitive and unique, but the section immediately following, "Use of the terms turtle, tortoise and terrapin", contradicts this idea. Then the remainder of the article proceeds to give a bunch of information about the animals, but without saying which definition it is using. 109.153.244.85 ( talk) 21:05, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
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In the Brain section there are several statements indicating tortoises can survive without a brain or after decapitation. This is nonsense. These statement should be removed or worded in a way which seriously underplays the robustness of this. DrChrissy (talk) 00:26, 15 April 2017 (UTC)
It is, not to put too fine a point on this, early 19th century bollocks. Luigi Rolando reported, at the time, being unable to reproduce this, and that rather removing the medulla caused immediate death. He did experiments where he removed the cerebellum and the animals lived and were paralyzed. But even his conclusions were overturned later in the 19th century, by Giulio Fano ( it:Giulio Fano) in 1884. Fano's work with Luigi Luciani in 1883, as reported by the latter, also did not remove the medulla from the animals. There are no reproducible results where anything other than death occurs, and quite a bit of neuroscience that post-dates the drivel about brainless tortoises currently being promoted by this article. Jonathan de Boyne Pollard ( talk) 23:18, 28 May 2019 (UTC)
Should not the section on terminology clarify that in British English, the word "turtle" is normally used solely to refer to a marine reptile? Vorbee ( talk) 20:19, 24 August 2017 (UTC)
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Not extinct anymore as the wiki page indicates: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/science/giant-tortoise-believed-to-be-extinct-for-100-years-found-alive-in-galapagos-islands/ar-BBTRc75?OCID=ansmsnnews11 2601:5C8:200:374B:FD42:B77:BE01:D554 ( talk) 00:15, 21 February 2019 (UTC)
Does anybody know why [Anhuichelys] isn’t being mentioned as the earliest testudinid? I know Lucas 2002 moved it to Emydidae, but he doesn’t explain why, and loads of papers (Yeh, 1979 through Tong et al. 2016, plus the PbDb) leave it in Testudinidae. It’s Paleocene, so it should predate [Hadrianus]. 70.122.86.238 ( talk) 16:12, 5 April 2019 (UTC)