Turtle vs Tortoise: What Is the Difference Between Them?

Key differences at a glance

Scientists recognize about 360 living and recently extinct species of turtle. Around 50 of them are tortoises, members of the family Testudinidae. The rest include sea turtles, such as the green sea turtle, and many freshwater and semi-aquatic turtles, from snapping turtles to softshells.

So the real comparison is between tortoises and the water-dwelling turtles. Tortoises have high, domed shells, sturdy, stumpy legs and mostly plant-based diets. Aquatic turtles usually have flatter shells, webbed feet or flippers and more varied diets. The table at the top of this page sums up the main points.

Shell shape

A tortoise’s shell is usually high, domed and heavy. The thick, rounded shape is hard for predators to bite or crush, and many tortoises can pull their head and legs fully inside and block the opening with their armored front legs.

Aquatic turtles usually have lower, flatter and smoother shells that slip through water more easily. Sea turtles have the most streamlined shells of all, shaped like a teardrop. Softshell turtles have gone further still, with flat, leathery shells, and the leatherback sea turtle has a flexible shell covered in skin instead of hard scales.

There are exceptions. Box turtles live mostly on land and have domed shells, but they belong to the pond turtle family, not the tortoise family (see the eastern box turtle). The pancake tortoise of East Africa has an unusually flat, flexible shell that lets it squeeze into rock crevices.

Legs and feet

The legs are one of the easiest ways to tell them apart. Tortoises have thick, column-like back legs, often compared to an elephant’s, with short toes and blunt claws. Their front legs are flattened and covered in tough scales, which helps them dig and protects them when they withdraw into the shell.

Freshwater turtles have webbed feet with long claws, useful for swimming as well as climbing out onto logs and banks. Sea turtles have long, paddle-shaped flippers instead of feet; on land they can only drag themselves slowly up the beach to nest.

Habitat and range

Tortoises live only on land. They are found in Africa, which has the most species, as well as southern Europe, Asia, and North and South America, and on islands such as the Galápagos, Aldabra and Madagascar. Many live in dry places such as deserts, scrub and grassland, but some live in tropical forests. None are native to Australia or Antarctica.

Tortoises are poor swimmers, yet they have reached many remote islands. Scientists think the ancestors of the Galápagos and Aldabra giant tortoises drifted there across the ocean, floating with their heads held up and surviving for weeks without food or fresh water. Find out more in can tortoises swim?

Other turtles live in almost every warm and temperate part of the world, in rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes and the open ocean. Sea turtles range across tropical and subtropical seas worldwide, and the leatherback reaches cold waters off Canada and northern Europe.

In the United States, native tortoises include the gopher tortoise of the Southeast and the desert tortoises of the Southwest. In southern Europe, Hermann’s tortoise, the spur-thighed tortoise and the marginated tortoise live alongside the European pond turtle.

Diet

Most tortoises are herbivores. They graze grasses and weeds and eat leaves, flowers, fruit and cacti, though some also eat snails, insects or carrion when they find them. Giant tortoises can go without food or water for long periods, which is one reason sailors once took them on long voyages as a living food supply.

Turtles’ diets are much more varied. Many freshwater turtles are omnivores, eating plants, insects, worms, snails and fish. Snapping turtles are mostly predators and scavengers. Among sea turtles, adult green turtles graze seagrass and algae, leatherbacks eat jellyfish and loggerheads crush crabs and clams.

Size and lifespan

The biggest living turtle of any kind is the leatherback sea turtle, which can exceed 500 kg (1,100 lb). The largest tortoise is the Galápagos giant tortoise, which can weigh up to about 417 kg (919 lb) and have a shell more than 1.2 m (4 ft) long. At the other end of the scale, the speckled Cape tortoise of South Africa is one of the world’s smallest turtles, with a shell under 10 cm (4 in) long.

Tortoises hold the lifespan records among turtles. Giant tortoises can live well over 100 years, and Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise living on the island of Saint Helena, is thought to have hatched around 1832, making him the oldest known living land animal. Many aquatic turtles also live for several decades; for details, see how long do turtles live?

Eggs and young

All turtles, including sea turtles, lay their eggs on land, usually in a hole dug in sand or soil. None give birth to live young. Tortoises usually lay small clutches, often 1–20 eggs, while sea turtles lay large clutches of roughly 50–200 eggs several times in a nesting season. In both groups, the parents leave the nest, and the hatchlings must survive on their own from the start.

Turtle, tortoise or terrapin? US and UK usage

The everyday words differ between countries. In American English, “turtle” is the general term for the whole group, and “tortoise” means a land-dwelling turtle, especially a member of Testudinidae. “Terrapin” usually refers to one species, the diamondback terrapin of salty coastal marshes from Massachusetts to Texas.

In British English, “turtle” has traditionally meant sea turtles, “tortoise” any land-dwelling species and “terrapin” freshwater turtles that live in and around ponds and rivers, such as the red-eared slider. In Australia, which has no true tortoises, freshwater turtles have often been called tortoises, although scientists there prefer “freshwater turtle.” Scientists everywhere use “turtle” for the whole order.