Turtle Talk

Well seeing as how I have embraced the slower side of life I thought it appropriate to showcase the turles in our life. The first two pictures I took this past weekend. I looked out the back window an noticed something "wierd" in the grass and I could not pass up a closer look-see. I found a turtle. I have fond memories of turtles in my life as a kid catching and releasing probly a hundred or so....So when I saw this guy I went back in to get Ella and we both talked to him and encouraged him toward the water a little faster than he was going to get here on his own.




These next few were taken at the Florida aquarium in Tampa. I just love turtles and apparently Ella does also.




Some amazing facts about turtles....
Due in large part to its slow metabolism, a turtle can survive for centuries. In March of 2005, a giant tortoise named Adwaita died in a Calcutta zoo at 250 years of age.
Despite a wrinkly appearance, when compared to all other animals that scientists know of, the organs of a turtle do not gradually degenerate or become less functional over time.
A turtle's heart does not need to beat at a steady rhythm. Turtles can turn their hearts on and off at will, depending on their moment-to-moment needs.
Among some populations of sea turtles, females do not mature sexually until they reach their 40's or 50's.
Box turtles and other species that live in forests can detect a pond or lake that is as far as a mile away, possibly by detecting polarized light coming off the surface of the water.
Female sea turtles can migrate across entire oceans every breeding season, finding their way back to the same beach where they were born to lay their own eggs.
Turtles vary greatly in size, from a speckled padloper tortoise in South America that is no bigger than a computer mouse, to the great leatherback sea turtle, which can be up to seven feet long and as heavy as 2,000 pounds. Totally awesome, right dude? (exerpt from Dr. Ben King)