Can Mr Oogway fight Shredder? No, since he ain't a Turtle !

Long ago in the dense forest lived a rabbit. Quite fast and agile, the rabbit challenges a Tortoise for a race...... This is too common a tale not to be a part of anyone's childhood bedtime stories. At the end, was a life long advice from the story....Slow and steady wins the race.

As we grew up (90s kids specifically), bedtime stories gave way to addictive video games. Ninja Turtles was one of them. The turtles had to fight the likes of powerful 'Shredder' to save the city and win the game...  

Well this article isn't about stories or games or lessons learnt etc. I suppose you must have guessed it. Yes, it is about the difference between Tortoise and Turtles. 

What is the difference between a Tortoise and a Turtle?
For the very first difference, Tortoise dwell on land while Turtles mostly live in water. This can be easily correlated with the story of Rabbit and Tortoise. Since the race was on land, we can infer and also remember that Tortoise is a land reptile.

Turtle: Did you notice the webbed feet ?

Secondly, Tortoise outlive Turtles by almost 50 - 80 years! Jonathan, from St. Helena island, is arguably the oldest Tortoise in the world, going strong at 185 years. You now know the longevity secret of Master Oogway (a Tortoise) of Kung Fu Panda. :)

Another major difference is in the Shell structure. The shell of Tortoise is quite heavy as compared to Turtles. It has a dome like structure and protects the animal from predators. On the other hand, Turtles have a flat shell, which helps them in swimming and diving.

The differences between the two reptiles have been summarized in the below table:

Property	Tortoise	Turtle
Habitat	Majorly dwells on Land	Lives mostly in Water
Geographic presence	Asia, Africa and to some extent in Americas	Worldwide
Lifespan	Average age is 80 years	Average age is 50 years
Limbs	Strong elephant-like feet	Flippers or webbed feet with long claws
Shell	Heavier as compared to Turtles	Lighter than Tortoise
Diet	Herbivorous	Omnivores

Nerd Notes:

1)  Turtles are one of the oldest creatures on earth, dating back to the dinosaurs era

2)  A group of Tortoises is called a 'creep'

3)  Tortoise were the first inhabitants from earth to circle the moon

4)  Ancient Roman military formation 'Testudo' (Latin for Tortoise) was inspired by Tortoise

Testudo Formation

As always, thanks for reading. Hope you liked it.

Prakhar