Julie Young - GCTTS Member
Copyright (c) 2004 Gulf Coast Turtle and Tortoise Society Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Please note: This outline is an example only. The person giving this presentation should feel free to improvise, add, omit, personalize, or otherwise alter information as he/she sees fit.
Hello, my name is ______________________.
I am a member of the Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society. We are a group of people who like turtles, and we like to learn about turtles, but we don't necessarily think that turtles make good pets.
Part of our mission statement is to educate people about turtles. To do this, we give a lot of presentations about turtles at schools, libraries, and nature centers.
Another part of our mission statement is to rehabilitate sick or injured turtles, with the hope that many of these animals can be released to live in the wild again.
Because we give talks to so many schools and other places where there are young people, we tend to gear our talks to a level that they will understand.
So, if you happen to be an adult here today, please don't think that we are talking down to you. We are simply trying to give our information in a way that everyone can understand easily.
The program today will be an informal one.
I'll talk for a little while, I'll have some animals to show you, then there'll be time for questions and answers.
Please, if you have a question at any time during my talk, you don't have to wait to the end to ask it. If you have a question, please feel free to ask it at any time.
What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you think of a turtle?
(wait for answer)
The first thing I think of is the turtle's shell. Turtles have had shells since before the dinosaurs - so the shell must serve a very important purpose. What purpose do you think the shell serves?
(wait for answer)
The shell protects the turtle. When a turtle is threatened, most turtles can draw its heads, arms, and legs into the shell and be very well protected.
A turtle is an animal that carries its home with it.
Well, this isn't really true. While a turtle does carry a hard shell on his back, and while he can pull himself into that shell if he needs to, the shell isn't really his home.
Turtles have real homes, just as we do. They live under rocks and logs, at the bottom of ponds, and lots of other places.
Let's look more closely:
What is a reptile? ASK THEM AND GET A FEW ANSWERS.
Reptiles are cold-blooded (more accurately they are poikilothermic).
That means their bodies cannot generate their own heat. They get the heat they need to live from the warmth of the sun, or from their surroundings.
Reptiles are covered with scales. Scales work to protect the animal both from predators, and from the environment.
Reptiles are not very smart, at least not compared to dogs and cats and even birds. They can't learn tricks, they'll never fetch a stick for you.
But they are smart enough to find food.
And reptiles are smart enough to have learned how to evolve. Reptiles are the oldest class of animals around today, dating back to the days of dinosaurs.
In fact, there is evidence that turtles were around millions and millions of years ago. They're still alive today and basically unchanged, and that sounds pretty smart to me.
The first thing you notice when you look at a turtle is that it is covered with a hard shell. The top, domed part of the shell is a called the carapace, and the bottom is called the plastron.
The turtle's ribcage is fused along the inside of the carapace.
Some but not all turtles can pull their heads and legs into their shell and fold the plastron shut along special hinges.
SHOW AN EXAMPLE OF THE TURTLE SHELL.
A turtle's body is covered with scales. Scales cover both the hard shell and the soft head and limbs. What function do you think scales serve?
Wait for an answer
Scales help to protect the turtle from predators and from the elements.
One interesting thing about the anatomy of a turtle is that it has no diaphragm.
What do we human beings use a diaphragm for?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER - to expand and contract our lungs to pull air in and out
Because a turtle has no diaphragm, it must pull oxygen into its lungs in another way. Turtles do this by pumping their legs, bobbing their heads, or moving internal muscles.
Maybe you've seen a turtle just sitting on the ground, very occasionally moving its legs back and forth. That turtle isn't just sitting around doing nothing - that turtle is breathing!
Another interesting thing about the way turtles breathe is that many of them can hold their breath for a very long time. We know this because water turtles can stay on the floor of a pond or river without coming up for air for hours at a time, and sometimes even for months during winter hibernation.
Some turtles are so well adapted to their watery environment that they can pull water in through their mouths or anus and pass it over special glands to extract the oxygen in much the same way a fish extracts oxygen from water by passing it over gills.
Turtles have eyes, and their eyesight is fairly good. They even have a bit of color perception.
Turtles have no visible ears. The place where their ears would be is covered with skin.
SHOW ON A TURTLE WHERE THE EARS WOULD BE.
Turtles can hear a little in the conventional way, but mostly, they rely on feeling vibrations in the ground.
Turtles have a fairly well developed sense of smell.
Turtles have no teeth. Instead, they have what we call a beak, similar to a bird's beak, but much, much stronger.
Would you like to know how to tell a male turtle from a female?
In general, male turtles are a bit smaller, they have longer tails, longer fingernails, red eyes, and a concave spot on their lower shell. This is to help accommodate the shell of the female during mating.
II. C. One of the questions we're asked most often is
The word turtle refers to all animals in the chelonian family of reptiles. When people talk about a tortoise, they usually mean a type of turtle that lives only on land. Tortoises usually live in arid habitats, such as the desert, and they usually eat only plant material.
The word turtle, then refers to turtles that live in water, and turtles that are kind of in-between, meaning that they live mostly on land, but can go into the water at times.
The most familiar turtle of this sort is the box turtle.
Most land turtles, like the box turtle, (HOLD UP A BOX TURTLE AND DEMONSTRATE) have high domed shells, dig down into the ground or under logs, and eat insects, dead animals, animal droppings (no kidding!), and vegetation.
Water turtles, on the other hand, (HOLD UP A WATER TURTLE AND DEMONSTRATE) have flatter shells and webbed feet. They can hold their breath a long time, and they are mostly carnivorous.
Can anyone tell me what carnivorous means? WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
Many people are curious about the special kind of water turtle called an alligator snapping turtle.
SHOW ONE IF YOU HAVE ONE
Alligator Snapping turtles are the largest fresh water turtles in the world. They have tall ridges on their shells and very long tails. They have buggy eyes and pointy snouts. They are the most primitive of all turtles, having changed very little since prehistoric times. Snapping turtles like to lay on the floor of a pond or river, where they'll hold their mouth open and wiggle an appendage under their tongue. This looks like a wiggling worm, and attracts fish right to the hungry turtle's mouth.
That's an easy way to catch lunch!
Snapping turtles have very strong jaws and can be very dangerous, but they don't actually attack people unless they feel threatened or have been provoked.
We have many turtles up here on display, and they all have identification labels, and sometimes interesting stories.
I'm going to talk about a few of them now, then we invite you to come up after the talk and get a closer look.
DON'T LET THEM COME UP NOW BECAUSE IT WILL BE TOO HARD TO GET PEOPLE SEATED AGAIN.
YOU OR A VOLUNTEER CAN SHOW TURTLES TO THE AUDIENCE AS YOU TALK ABOUT EACH TYPE.
Pet stores have many types of turtles for sale. We think it's wrong to take an animal away from its home and sell it in area to which it is not adapted. For that reason, we will limit our talk today to turtles native to our area of Texas.
The box turtle is common over most of Texas. Texas has three types of native box turtles. Three-toed and gulf coast box turtles are usually a drab khaki or brown color, and they have high domed shells. They live in the eastern and southern portions of our state.
SHOW AN EXAMPLE
Ornate box turtles got their name because ornate means adorned, or decorated, and they are about the best looking of the common types of box turtles. They are the smallest of our native box turtles. Their shells are a little flatter on top, and they prefer a bit drier climate, such as around the Texas Hill Country.
SHOW AN EXAMPLE
Texas has several types of water turtles.
Remember, these animals have flatter shells and webbed feet.
SHOW EXAMPLES AS YOU GO ALONG: POINT OUT A FEW CHARACTERISTICS
The red eared slider is so named because of this red marking along the neck
about where the ears would be.
Chicken turtle
Cooter
The shells of map turtles have pronounced ridges,
and distinctive, map-like markings.
Mud and musk turtles are an interesting subdivision of water turtles.
Their shells are more oval than other water turtles,
and their snouts are more pointy.
Mud turtles spend a bit more time out of water; musk turtles hardly ever come out.
Most mud and musk turtles are a bit more pugnacious than other water turtles.
But some of the time, they are bluffing it!
Musk turtles are so named because when they are irritated,
they'll open their mouths in a threatening way.
When they do this, they exude a musky odor,
intended to repel a predator
who might have thought the turtle would make a tasty snack.
Texas does have a tortoise, called the Texas Tortoise.
It is not found in our area, but is adapted to live in hot, dry West Texas.
This tortoise has a low, heavy shell, and stumpy legs.
It doesn't drink much,
being able to extract all the water it needs from the vegetation it eats.
Unfortunately, Texas Tortoises are becoming extinct,
and are a protected species.
One reason, of course, is destruction of habitat,
as more and more desert land is paved over for homes and industry.
Many Texas Tortoises have disappeared from the wild
because people pick them up and take them home for pets.
A tortoise from arid West Texas isn't likely to do well in humid East Texas,
so many of them become sick and die.
Sometimes, the people who took them home take them back to West Texas
and release them to the wild,
but that has actually helped diminish their numbers, too.
Because, while many of those tortoises
were living outside the particular area to which they were native,
they may have picked up
a disease or parasite to which it had no resistance or immunity.
Then, not only is a now-ill animal being released to the wild,
it is likely to infect many more tortoises living in the desert.
This is the exact scenario that is responsible for having wiped out
a great many of our Texas Tortoises.
Even when people don't take a tortoise home,
just the stress of human intrusion can cause harm to the tortoise.
Another thing that has caused the death of many tortoises is this:
Remember we said that tortoises don't need to drink much water,
because it can store that important nutrient in its body.
But, if a tortoise is disturbed, say, by a group of humans picking it up to look at it,
even if those people never intend to take the animal home,
they can cause it great harm.
Because, one way a tortoise protects itself when it is frightened
is to become as gross and disgusting as it can.
So what that tortoise will do when it's picked up is to urinate.
Well, that's gross alright,
and whoever picked it up will surly quickly put it back down,
and drive off without the tortoise.
However, just because the tortoise is still in the desert doesn't mean that it is safe.
That tortoise is living in the hot, dry desert,
and it has just urinated out its reserve of important liquid.
This scenario, also, has led to the deaths of a great many Texas Tortoises.
So, remember, if you ever see a turtle or tortoise in the wild,
look from a distance, but do not touch,
and never pick up, and never, ever remove the turtle from its home.
II. E. WHAT IS A TURTLE'S TEMPERAMENT?
What do we mean by the word temperament? WAIT FOR AN ANSWER.
Turtles are shy. They spend most of their time hiding under logs or rocks.
If you do see a turtle out in the wild,
he's likely to be somewhere where he knows you will not be able to get too close,
such as basking on a log in the middle of a river.
Turtles are not like dogs or cats;
they're not soft and cuddly,
they do not like to be petted or even touched.
As a matter of fact, too much touching of carrying
can cause a turtle to become stressed and ill.
This is one reason why turtles make poor pets, particularly for children.
They are more the kind of animal that you sit and look at,
but not one that you hold and play with.
Some turtles are grumpy.
All turtles are territorial.
What do we mean by the word territorial?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER OR ELABORATE
Because they are so territorial,
turtles live as solitary animals.
Turtles are not very bright.
We know this because they have done tests
where a turtle who wants to go from here to there,
if there is some obstacle between here and there,
will spend hours and hours pushing against the obstacle,
instead of realizing that he could just walk around it.
Turtles can live a long time.
It's not uncommon for a turtle to live 30 years,
and certain kinds have been documented to live as long as 100 years.
III. WHERE DO TURTLES LIVE?
III. A. Turtles live all over the world,
but because they're cold-blooded reptiles,
they are found mostly in warmer climates.
There are no turtles native to Siberia!
Turtles need warm climates to survive because their bodies cannot generate heat.
Without a warm habitat, a reptile would be very slow and sluggish,
it could not digest its food,
and it could not reproduce.
Turtles are found on almost every continent,
in the United States, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Some of the most well-known turtles
are the humongous tortoises of the Galapagos Islands
off the coast of South America.
III. B. Man has encroached on the habitat of wild animals in many ways.
Farms, and the chemicals they introduce into the environment
have destroyed much wild land,
as have the building of highways, shopping centers, houses, and suburbs.
Much of what had been wild habitat is now city.
Many wild animals have adapted to living in the city.
If you think about it,
you've probably seen opossums, raccoons, and birds
right near your home here in Houston.
And in smaller towns, it's not uncommon to find deer inside the city limits.
But have you ever found
a wild turtle colony in the city?
No, because turtles cannot adapt to city living.
For that reason, turtles live in the country.
Remember when we talked about a turtle's temperament
and we said they are shy?
Because turtles are shy, they live in the country, far away from people.
They live in the desert, in the woods, and at the edge of fields.
Water turtles live in ponds, bayous, and rivers.
But if you hike in the woods or float in a boat,
you won't see them.
That's because turtles keep themselves hidden,
making their homes under rocks, logs, or digging into the ground.
Water turtles may come out to bask on logs or rocks at the water's edge
(basking helps warm their bodies and kill fungus on their shells),
but if you get too close to them,
they'll jump off into the safety of the water.
Can any one tell me why you sometimes find turtles of the highway?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER - traveling or warming themselves
Crossing a highway can be very dangerous for turtles.
Besides the cars that hit them accidentally,
believe it or not,
there are actually people who will go out of their way
to swerve their cars just so they can strike a turtle in the road.
If you do find a turtle crossing the highway,
and you are afraid it will be hit by a car before it can get to the other side,
it's OK to get out safely,
and gently pick up the turtle and place it on the other side of the road.
Be sure you put the turtle on the side of the road it was trying to get to,
or it will stubbornly turn around and try again.
Never drive the turtle a mile or two down the road before releasing it -
you could remove it too far from its natural territory.
Turtles do not live in air conditioned houses or apartments,
not in aquariums, and never in bowls.
Do turtles crawl over to the grocery store or pet store and pick themselves up a box or bag of turtle chow?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
No, of course not. Healthy turtles eat what they find in the wild. Tortoises, who spend all of their time on land, eat virtually only vegetation.
What do we mean by vegetation?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
The scoop on tortoises is that they eat high volumes of low nutrient-dense food. That means that they eat a lot, and they poop a lot. It is rare for a tortoise to take a drink, because they have adapted to take all the water they need from the food they eat.
They are able to store this water in their body, and draw from that reserve as needed.
Land turtles are the least picky eaters. They eat a mix of vegetation and meat - various plants, farm crops like apples and corn, snails, bugs, worms, and carrion.
Who knows what carrion means? WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
Carrion means dead animals that the turtles find out in the woods.
For the most part, water turtles are omnivorous. That means that, like you, they eat a little of everything. They are very good at catching fish. They also eat crawfish, snails, and water bugs, and round it off with lots of water plants.
Protein needs vary, with land turtles needing less, and carnivorous water turtles needing more.
Turtles need Vitamin A. Without sufficient Vitamin A, turtles develop severe eye problems, and even blindness.
Turtles need Vitamin D, which they get from direct sunlight, just like we do. Vitamin D is essential for a turtle to process calcium and to build a strong shell and bones. Adequate calcium in the diet is essential. A lack of sufficient calcium can lead to shell and bone loss and disfigurement.
If a turtle can't eat enough calcium for its body to function properly, its body will actually rob its shell and bones for the nutrient, and the turtle can become severely crippled or even die.
Most prepared "turtle foods" sold in pet stores are very low in nutrition, or else very high.
Either way, these unbalanced foods can actually do a turtle harm. To be healthy, turtles must eat exactly what they would eat in their natural wild environment.
Turtles hide - under rocks and logs and at the bottom of ponds or rivers. They search for food. They search for sunlight and warmth.
Turtles defend their territory. If you should see two turtles facing one another bobbing their heads up and down, They're not saying, "Hi, how are ya?" They're saying, "Hey, Jack, Get the heck off my turf!"
In the winter, turtles hibernate. Can anyone tell me what hibernation is?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER - period of dormancy spent buried
We use the word hibernate, but really, turtles do something a little different, which is called estivating. Why do turtles estivate? There are several reasons why turtles spend the winter months sleeping. For one, remember we said that turtles are cold-blooded reptiles? Because they cannot generate their own heart, they cannot stay warm enough to function during the winter. They would be too cold to move, and their digestive system would shut down, causing food to rot in their gut.
Also, in order for the female to produce fertile eggs in the spring, it is necessary for her body temperature to drop to a certain point for a certain period of time. Which brings us to our next topic:
Clumsy though they may be, turtles court and mate like other animals.
Some species have elaborate dances, and the male may caress the female's face with his long front fingernails. Or, among the less romantically inclined, he may simple bash his shell into hers over and over.
The actual act of mating is just like warm blooded animals, with the male on top and the female on bottom. Yes, it's awkward, but remember, turtles are slow to evolve, and they've been doing it this way for millions of years so by now they have evidently gotten it just the way they want it.
Anyway, after mating, the male takes off and a couple months later, or the following spring, the female finds a spot in the sun in which to place her nest. She will spend hours digging a hole with her hind legs, then deposit her eggs (usually 2-5 eggs for small turtles, 8-18 for larger ones, and over a hundred for some species of sea turtles). Next the female covers the nest with dirt or sand, disguises it, then she, too takes off.
It is very important that the nest not be disturbed. Even turning over the egg of a reptile can dislodge the embryo and cause it to die. One interesting thing is that the sex of baby turtles seems to be determined by the temperature at which the eggs were incubated;
A typical species might have equal numbers of males and females when the eggs are incubated at 80F. If it's warmer when the eggs incubate, there will be more females; cooler temperatures yeild more males.
Two to three months later, or the next spring, the baby turtles hatch out and dig their way up to the surface.
Because they have no mom to look out for them, they have to take care of themselves. They hatch out with an egg sack attached to the bottom of their shell which will provide food for a couple of days, but after that, they must find their own food and avoid predators.
What do I mean by predators?
WAIT FOR AN ANSWER
Turtles must face natural predators like raccoons, foxes, and dogs. Believe it or not, man is one of the biggest threats to turtles. We drive cars on the highway that kill turtles, sometimes intentionally. We've already talked about how man has caused loss of habitat and changing habitat.
Humans also eat turtles. This was especially true in earlier days, particularly in Florida and other parts of the South. The diamondback terrapin, native to the South and to Texas, has been driven almost to extinction because of harvesting for food. That's illegal here in the states, but in other countries, particularly China and other parts of Asia, turtle meat is considered a delicacy.
In other countries, too, turtles are used for medicines and folk remedies. We've pointed out how man has introduced diseases to the turtle population.
Another threat to turtles is the pet trade. Thousands of turtles every year are removed from the habitat they are adapted to and shipped to foreign countries, where they face an environment completely unfamiliar to them. Even before they make it to the new habitat, turtles face many perils at the hands of the pet trade.
I've seen photographs of shipping conditions where turtles are crammed together and stacked on top of one another in airless crates soiled by feces and germs. Often, they are stored like this for weeks or even months, without food or water, until enough have been collected to fill the box. Turtles treated this way can starve, suffocate, or contract diseases. We never recommend purchasing turtles that have been treated in this way.
We at the Gulf Coast Turtle and Tortoise Society think that turtles do not always make good pets.
For one thing, turtles do not possess a pet-like temperament.
Another thing people don't realize, is that turtles grow - big. That the cute little quarter-sized hatchling water turtle, can turn into a two-foot long housing nightmare.
SHOW AN EXAMPLE OF A FULL-GROWN WATER TURTLE
People also don't realize that turtles can carry and transmit diseases such as worms and salmonella.
Also, it's really, really hard to recreate a proper, healthy, natural habitat. Turtles need lots of room to crawl around on and to swim in.
They can never live indoors because it's too cold, there's insufficient sunlight, and too little space.
It's hard to provide the proper diet.
It's hard to keep turtles healthy.
Out of their natural environment, turtles can develop shell rot, respiratory problems, nutritional deficiencies, and much more.
In fact, we have a member whose full-time job is rehabilitating turtles who have become sick or been injured by acts of man.
Our goal is to release as many of these as possible back to their natural habitat.
SHOW TURTLES HURT BY DOGS, LAWN MOWERS, SHELL ROT, POOR NUTRITION
With that being said, I will tell you that most of our members do keep a turtle or two. We encourage our members and those of you who have turtles to keep them outdoors in a proper habitat, and to treat them not as pets, but as wild animals.
Thanks for coming. I hope this discussion has been helpful to you.
And remember, LOOK at turtles, LEARN about turtles, LIKE turtles, but LEAVE turtles in the wild.
After this is over, invite people to come up and ask more questions, and to look at turtles specimens that have been brought for show and tell.
The Gulf Coast Turtle and Tortoise Society is an all volunteer organization whose goals include:
For more information about the GCTTS or about the care of turtles and tortoises, email info@gctts.org, write us at GCTTS, 1227 Whitestone Ln, Houston, TX 77073, or visit our website http://www.GCTTS.Org.
GCTTS meetings are open to the public and free.
Membership and care information is available at our meetings and on our web site.