Marsh turtle (Black Sea population). European marsh turtle at home Where to find a river turtle

O. GERASIMOVA, M. PESTOV (environmental center "Dront", Nizhny Novgorod). Photo by N. Anufrieva and M. Pestov.

It is hardly worth describing what a turtle looks like. Its only protection - a strong shell - was so effective that it allowed animals to survive many millions of years of evolution almost unchanged. However, before humans, these reptiles were completely defenseless. They are being hunted relentlessly, and not just for meat and eggs. When tortoiseshell combs, combs, cufflinks and other handicrafts came into fashion, this very shell, covered with a beautiful pattern, endangered the existence of many species. What can be done to protect animals?

Science and life // Illustrations

Bog turtles can stay underwater for long periods of time, but they need atmospheric air. Once caught in fishing nets, they suffocate and die.

The female bog turtle is a cute, curious, and full of life creature. In captivity, in urban apartments, these animals quickly lose their bright personality and interest in life.

Male marsh turtle. Unlike yellow-eyed females, males have brown eyes.

In one of the private pet stores in Gelendzhik, with an unwavering hand, they wrote out a sales receipt for a Mediterranean tortoise listed in the Red Book of Russia. The capture and sale of these turtles is strictly prohibited.

Before releasing a Mediterranean tortoise, we give it an individual number so that we can find out about its future fate.

Oddly enough, turtles living in our country suffer mainly from a "good" attitude towards them, namely, from the fashion that arose not so long ago to keep turtles at home as live toys.

There was an erroneous opinion that there is nothing easier than keeping such an undemanding creature: you don’t have to take it out for a walk in any weather three times a day, wash your paws after a walk, and clean the sofa and chairs from wool. But this is a misconception. Like any other animal, reptiles require attention and special care.

The fate of turtles in captivity is most often sad. Having suffered for several years in unsuitable conditions of city apartments, they die without leaving offspring. And in the meantime, more and more new batches go on sale. As a result, populations are severely damaged, and some species are now generally on the verge of extinction.

It is not uncommon to hear that turtle owners are sincerely attached to their pets. But what does this give their pets? With really thoughtful good care(You can read more about this in articles published in the journal, see "Science and Life" No. 9, 1998; No.) Some reptiles can live for more than half a century. Is it possible to guarantee that not only the current owners, but also their children, and possibly grandchildren, will have the patience to take care of the animal?

Most often, as practice shows, the feeling of attachment to the turtle is very often combined with blatant ignorance about its biology and necessary conditions content. For example, some owners are sure that it is enough to feed their pets with dandelions once every six months and that they can generally live for 300 years without food. Sometimes turtles are allowed to “hibernate” on a hot radiator, although they need a shaded, cool, humid place. And the stories about how she fell into hibernation the turtle was thrown out, considering it dead, we had to listen dozens of times.

We are members of two divisions of the ecological center "Dront", organized in 1989 with the status of "public institution". Currently, the ecocenter has about 30 structural units, each of which conducts a separate area of ​​work, has its own head and is self-financing. The Youth Ecological and Biological Union "Chilim" was established in 2002 to involve children and adolescents in the protection of nature and scientific research. The Nizhny Novgorod Society for the Protection of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Ecocenter "Dront" seeks to unite the efforts of herpetologists - specialists and amateurs - to study and protect endangered species.

For four years now, we have been implementing the "Attention, turtle!" project, the purpose of which is to organize cooperation and information exchange with herpetologists from other regions and countries in order to develop and implement measures to protect rare species of these reptiles. Spreading the word about the project through the media mass media, we are practically all year round we collect animals in order to return turtles to their natural environment at the end of spring and early summer. We take them to their habitats in different ways - depending on the possibilities - by train or by car.

It seems that the main trouble is that the current owners do not know how the captured turtles are delivered to them. In order to clarify the picture, here is just one excerpt from the publication of the Russian representative office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW):

"On April 25, 2003, the metropolitan environmental police confiscated 1,660 Central Asian turtles from a citizen of Uzbekistan. Small turtles were tightly packed in huge bags, each animal was wrapped with tape to limit mobility and facilitate smuggling. 5 animals died during transportation, another 19 - during the next about a hundred turtles had severe shell deformities."

Of the four species of turtles currently living in our country, two are most often used as living souvenirs: marsh ( Emys orbicularis), common in the lower reaches of the Volga and in other southern regions European part of Russia, and the Mediterranean ( testudo graeca), living on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and in Dagestan. Both species are listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Mediterranean species is also listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation in category "1" (a species with a steadily declining population, some populations of which are on the verge of extinction) and in the appendix to the Convention on International Trade in Wildlife Species fauna and flora endangered.

Bog turtles of the Volgograd and Astrakhan regions hundreds perish in the nets of fishermen, under the wheels of cars, in trenches dug during the laying of communications, during the drainage of reservoirs and during reed fires. Tourists also make a significant "contribution" to the extermination of the species: annually they export a large number of animals outside the Lower Volga region.

However, in the southern part of the Lower Volga region, this species is still quite numerous, and so far no special conservation measures are required. It is enough to carry out the usual fight against fish poaching and environmental education population.

Raises greater concerns state of the art mediterranean tortoise. The number of animals is steadily declining, which is noted not only by specialists. According to the stories local residents, earlier in wild nature they could be seen almost every day, and in recent times such meetings take place no more than once a year. One of the causes of the disaster is the uncontrolled fishing of turtles by traders and tourists. The greatest demand is for young, immature individuals under the age of 10 years. Thus, animals fall into captivity without having time to leave offspring, as a result, they are completely lost to the species.

During trips along the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar Territory in Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk, members of our expedition saw Mediterranean turtles openly sold in private pet stores. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, they are also on free sale. Naturally, the capture and sale of these animals is absolutely illegal and theoretically should entail quite serious penalties. In practice, the trade in rare species of turtles is flourishing, bringing considerable income to its organizers, since the fine that they are supposed to pay according to the article of the criminal code looks simply ridiculous.

A few years ago, specialists working on the Red Book of the Nizhny Novgorod Region proposed to include the marsh turtle in the list, since zoologists have repeatedly found it in various regions. It was included in the regional Red Book, but later scientists came to the conclusion that the marsh turtle is not found in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and the individuals they encountered were thrown away by the owners, who were tired of the "toy". Along the way, it turned out that every year tourists who visited the lower reaches of the Volga bring dozens of reptiles to the region, dooming them to a slow death. It was then that the idea arose to organize a collection of marsh turtles.

All kinds of turtles were brought to us during the course of this project: emaciated, with softened and deformed shells, immobilized, dried up like mummies, so much so that many of them could not submerge in water and floated on the surface like a fallen leaf. The story is simple and typical. Having received an animal as a gift from someone, the owners let it crawl on the floor in the apartment and tried to feed it with traditional dandelions. A turtle, firstly, a predator, and secondly, an aquatic animal, can only eat in water. During the year, she refused the plant food offered to her, and the owners were unaware that she needed to be put into the water. During all this time, the animal did not have the opportunity not only to swim, but even to drink enough.

"Our turtles are very kind," the owners of two other marsh turtles told us, "they have never bitten us!" "Good" turtles lay motionless in a cardboard box. They never moved in the three hours of the car ride. Meanwhile, healthy animals would smash such a box to shreds. After a month of rehabilitation in the center, they quickly rose to their hind legs near the glass partition when they began to feed other animals in the neighboring pool, and actively defended their territory, making sharp attacks with their mouths open, as soon as they held their hand next to them.

Over the years of work on the project, we have seen that owners bring Mediterranean turtles much less often than marsh turtles, and some individuals cannot be saved. Obviously, they endure captivity worse and die before they have time to annoy their owners.

On sale, in addition to the swamp and Mediterranean living in Russia, it is also found Central Asian tortoise (Argionemys horsfieldii). These inhabitants of semi-deserts and deserts are most often kept in apartments. Until we can find a solution difficult question: what to do with large consignments of confiscated turtles? It is extremely difficult to officially return animals to their homeland. Moreover, it turned out, for example, that all individuals from the batch confiscated in 2003 are sick with salmonellosis (one of the arguments is not to keep these animals in apartments).

The situation with red-eared turtles looks even more hopeless ( Trachemys scripta elegans). Their homeland North America, they breed well in captivity, and this species is not yet threatened with extinction. Many willingly buy small bright green turtles with red stripes on their heads for aquariums. Problems begin when the animal grows, loses its brightness and no longer fits in the aquarium. And what should owners do? Turtles are beginning to be offered to friends, school circles, zoos. Sometimes they are simply thrown away or released into the nearest body of water, and this is an illegal introduction. alien species fraught with very serious environmental consequences.

In a number European states In order to protect local water bodies, nurseries have been created where overgrown turtles are taken from the population. There is a similar nursery in the Baltics. In Russia it is not. That is why visitors to the Moscow Zoo must have paid attention to the numerous red-eared turtles living in the same basin with caimans. They feel good there, they even warm themselves, sitting on the back of the caimans, despite the fact that they have breakfast with them from time to time. You can't blame the zoo staff for cruelty, you can only sympathize with them. Imagine how many individuals are annually brought to the zoo from all over Moscow!

Now, according to our observations, the market is also flooded with Far Eastern soft-bodied turtles - three-clawed trionics ( Trionyx sinensis) - rare view For Russia. But in neighboring China, they have relatively recently mastered its breeding on farms. Trionyx is often referred to in pet stores as the "Chinese leatherback turtle". Before you get a cute nimble nosed baby, think about the fact that, firstly, it is a predator and very mobile; in the conditions of an ordinary city apartment to create normal conditions difficult, but without the necessary warm-up and malnutrition grow humpbacked freaks-dwarfs. Secondly, the weight of an adult Trionix can reach 15 kg. Predators of this size at home are a dangerous toy!

The collection of turtles caught in Russia and their return to their natural habitats is not the main content of the project. Its basis is educational work aimed at reducing consumer demand for reptiles.

In the first years of operation, the project was supported by the Committee for Nature Protection and Environmental Management of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Supports us for the third year International Foundation Animal Welfare (IFAW). This year, the organization received additional targeted support under the Rufford Foundation (Great Britain) small grants program for the study and protection of the rarest and most vulnerable species of tortoises in the fauna of Russia - the Mediterranean tortoise. We are trying to trace the entire chain of illegal activities - from the capture of these animals in Astrakhan and Volgograd regions before the sale of live goods in major cities- and take appropriate action in alliance with local environmental authorities. We hope that people, having become more familiar with "turtle problems", will seriously think before catching or buying an animal for home keeping. In any case, in last years the number of turtles brought to us by residents has decreased significantly.

Perhaps someone reading this article will think: there are many much more serious problems in our society. But it is no coincidence that the ancient Indians placed the tortoise as the basis of the grandiose cosmogonic pyramid - a symbol of wisdom, endurance and longevity. (Yes, and in many other religions, it was not ignored, making it an object of reverence.) And let us recall the words of the wonderful American poet T. Eliot: "Do not touch the flower, so as not to shake the star and bring down the universe." The extinction of one species will certainly affect the entire ecological chain. And the universe may indeed collapse.

An inexperienced eye will not be able to determine how this reptile came to you: straight from an exotic area or from a swamp that can be seen from the window of the house. You can not declassify in front of relatives or friends and say that your pet belongs to the exotic category. In fact, caring for him will cost several times cheaper than for an exotic counterpart, moreover, according to appearance river turtles differ little from sea turtles.

River turtles have a good appetite, so after eating they are emptied into the water. In this regard, there is a need for daily water changes. A cleansing system, if you have one, will not be enough, as the turtle's feces will remain floating in the water. River turtles do not require filtered water - a liquid temperature of 30-32 ° C is quite suitable. It is also recommended to periodically clean the walls of the aquarium and pool, otherwise it will be difficult to get rid of the plaque formed.

River turtles, or marsh turtles, are completely unpretentious in food and care. This is due to their consistently simple habitat. The turtle will survive in your home under any conditions if you pick it up and keep it. Raised in rivers and swamps, these turtles will not accept any expensive food. Also, you do not need to equip a home for them with lighting, a bathroom and toys. You have the right to choose the conditions of existence for your pet, but if you have river turtle know that you are the lucky one.

What do turtles eat in nature?

Turtles seem harmless only at first glance. In nature, they manifest themselves as predators who easily butcher their prey. In addition to the flesh of the turtle, while in the water, they can eat algae and other sea ​​plants. However, this is not enough for the healthy development of the turtle, so they find a source of protein daily. On land, it can be some insects - wood lice, centipedes, grasshoppers, caterpillars and locusts. Favorite delicacy - worms and insect larvae. From aquatic life turtles feed on small fish, tadpoles, crustaceans, newts.

A turtle caught from a reservoir for keeping at home is unlikely to agree to other food, and for the owner of the reptile, the main question remains about obtaining food for the turtle. If you can dig up a few worms in the summer, it will be completely impossible in the winter. It is important to know what the river turtle eats so that the pet continues to develop.

What do river turtles eat at home?

A person who has some experience in caring for turtles will certainly say that their nutrition at home directly depends on their species. If a sea ​​turtles they eat vegetables, berries and fruits with pleasure, river ones recognize only meat, rarely plants. You should always have the following items in stock for your pet:

1. River fish. Buy small, inexpensive fish that your pet can handle on its own. Adults can be given fish with medium-sized bones. It should be fresh or thawed, but in no case boiled and fried.
2. Meat (mainly beef, veal, turkey). The meat must be raw, boneless. Turtles living in rivers and swamps are accustomed to a hunting lifestyle. These are carnivorous animals that are able to deal with a large piece of meat on their own. Once a week, you can offer beef liver to turtles.
3. Sea cocktail (squid, shrimp). Marine life are very nutritious for the turtle as they are an indispensable source of calcium. It is rare to find fresh shrimp and squid, so in order for them to be suitable for a turtle as food, it is enough to defrost them.
4. Dandelions, cabbage and lettuce leaves. Plants may not be a turtle's main food source, so it is recommended to give them to the turtle for variety.

Despite the fact that turtles are called river turtles, they prefer most spend time not in water, but on land. By the behavior of the turtle, it is easy to notice when it is fully bathed and wants to leave the water. For this case, it is necessary to provide a ledge above the pool, the so-called "berezhok" or a separate basin, where the turtle can not only crawl, but also eat. It is important that the pet leaves the water on its own in order to have a snack, so it is necessary to provide a non-slip ledge.

If the turtle refuses to eat

The river turtle, like a person, has a character that affects food intake. If you noticed that your pet is still healthy and playful, then you need to diversify the diet at least for a while so that the turtle gets new nutrients with other food.

When sick, turtles become lethargic, seem tired, and ignore any offer of food. In this case, the question arises about the state of health of the pet. People who do not have special education, it is not recommended to self-medicate, a herpetologist - a specialist in the study of amphibians - will be happy to examine the turtle and prescribe recommendations for care and nutrition.

Refusal of a turtle from food may be the result of a weakening of the general condition. If you notice that the shell and claws have become soft, this is the first alarm signal indicating a lack of calcium. Of course, the pet will not lose its shell, but will easily cripple it. A turtle caught in the nearest river or swamp, of course, has never eaten cheese, cottage cheese, eggs, beans before, and is unlikely to want to try foods that are not familiar to it. But calcium-rich sardines, shrimp and greens she will taste with great pleasure. As a supplement, it is recommended to give vitamins in jars, which, in addition to calcium, contain all other necessary vitamins and minerals.

Where to find the river turtle?

The river turtle is not classified as exotic, so it is not always possible to buy it at a pet store. Even if she happened to be there, her cost cannot be high, since the river turtle, without exaggeration, can be taken from the street. They do not accept fast and clean waters, so they prefer to live in stagnant rivers and swamps. Most often they can be found in the lower reaches of the Don, Volga, Dnieper, Ural. River turtles love to bask in the sun, so they willingly look for a stone, which they crawl out on after a short stay in the water. Finding turtles is not always easy as they hide under rocks and old tree branches. Their color, close to the color of the area in which they live, allows them to remain invisible to humans.

Serpent "population" North Caucasus quite varied. In the region, there are both poisonous and harmless, and water, and land snakes. You can meet them anywhere - from city lawns and reservoirs to mountain slopes. Major Representatives squamous detachment, of course, avoid life in settlements, however, they may well live in the fields along the tracks. The nature of local snakes, as noted by serpentologists, is rather phlegmatic - they will not rush at a person because of instincts or sudden aggression. But, of course, there is always a risk.

The most common snakes that live in the North Caucasus are in our selection.

Vipers

The viper family is the most numerous in the snake estate of the North Caucasus. These snakes are poisonous, and even newborn individuals have poison. The viper looks unremarkable: gray or brown color, pattern on the head, body length - up to 75 centimeters. Among vipers, serpentologists distinguish several main species.

The viper is real. The poison of this snake is considered the most toxic. When bitten by a viper, a person immediately feels sharp pain, which increases when edema appears at the site of the bite. After a couple of hours, inflammation of the vessels begins, after a couple of days, hemorrhagic blisters appear. If you do not turn to the doctors, you can die from the bite of a real viper.

discover poisonous snake can be in rotten stumps, animal burrows and even bushes. Any sudden movement, scientists say, can be regarded by the snake as a provocation. Therefore, when meeting with a viper, in no case should you panic and do not make sudden movements.

Common viper. It can be recognized by its flat head, which differs in size from the thickness of the body. Most individuals have a zigzag pattern along the spine. The bite of a common viper is rarely fatal, however, it is dangerous to humans. Medicine knows cases when those bitten did not feel any symptoms at all, but more often snake “victims” experienced nausea, vomiting and dizziness, convulsions and even loss of consciousness.

The common viper likes cool temperatures and mountainous terrain, so the chance to find it in settlements Stavropol Territory small.

Steppe viper. The snake is brown in color with a dark pattern on the head. This type of viper is known for its slowness - on land they do not move as fast as their brothers in the family. But in the waters steppe vipers show themselves as excellent swimmers, and can also climb the branches of shrubs and trees. The steppe viper is especially common in Kalmykia.

Viper Dinnik. The species of vipers, named after the Russian zoologist, is traditionally colored more elegantly than its relatives in the family: a lemon-black pattern cuts through the gray-green back. But the bite of this viper differs little from that practiced by relatives - the danger is the same. A person will urgently need a doctor, but a pet after such an attack is unlikely to be saved.
Dinnik's viper is common in Stavropol and neighboring Krasnodar region. An attractive landscape for the asp is subalpine meadows or woodlands. This viper does not like heat, so the risk of meeting it in the open sun is minimized.

Type of Chordates - Chordata
Class Reptiles - Reptilia
detachment Turtles - Testudines
Family Freshwater turtles - Emydidae.
Genus: bog turtles
View Marsh turtle (Black Sea population) - Emys orbicularis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status. 3 "Rare" -3, RD. A species disappearing on the Black Sea coast, listed in. The marsh turtle is listed in Appendix 2.

Global population endangered category on the IUCN Red List

"Low Risk / Near Threatened" - Lower Risk / Near Threatened, LR/nt ver. 2.3 (1994).

Category according to IUCN Red List criteria

The regional Black Sea population is classified as Near Threatened - Near Threatened, NT. B. S. Tuniev

Belonging to the objects of action of international agreements and conventions ratified by the Russian Federation

Do not belong.

Brief morphological description

Marsh turtle up to 200 mm long. The carapace is dark olive to black above, with or without numerous yellow streaks; below - yellowish or brown. Neck, legs and tail with numerous yellow spots, sometimes merging into stripes. Young animals are often olive-brown.

Spreading

The global range covers Europe, Western Asia, the west of Kazakhstan and the south of Turkmenistan. In the Russian Federation, the species is distributed north to Smolensk, Bryansk, Tula, Oryol regions, upper reaches of the river. Don. Occurs in the Republic of Mari El, Chuvashia, on middle Volga (Samara Region), in Bashkiria and on the left bank of the river. Ural.

The regional range occupies the plain and foothill parts of the region, as well as a narrow strip of the Black Sea coast to the border with Abkhazia. At present, the range of the marsh turtle is broken throughout Black Sea coast, in many places it has disappeared altogether. Turtles can still be found in the Dry Liman tract on the ridge. Navagir, oz. Abrau, near the village. Lazarevskoye, Kudepsta, Adler, Baranovka (on the river Vostochny Dagomys), pos. Kalinovoe Lake, r. Small host.

On the northern slope of the Western Caucasus, the marsh turtle is still common in flat and partly foothill areas. The taxonomic position of animals living in KK is unclear, the habitat of three subspecies is indicated. The environs of Sochi are apparently inhabited by the relict subspecies E. orbicularis colchica Fritz, 1994, while the plain and foothill parts of the region are inhabited by the nominative subspecies. An indication of the presence of another subspecies E. orbicularis hellenica Fritz, 1994, from the Azov region is doubtful. Type area: Southern Europe.

Features of biology and ecology

The marsh turtle lives in stagnant and slow-flowing water bodies, at the bottom of which it hibernates. Rarely rises to the mountains above 200 m above sea level. seas. Maximum in the Western Caucasus rise up to 800 m above sea level. sea ​​(near Psebay) on the northern slope and 600 m above sea level. seas (village Kalinovoye Ozero) - on the southern macroslope of the GKH.

Activity lasts from March to October. Lays 1–3 clutches per season, 5–10 eggs each. The length of the eggs is from 29.6 to 35.5 mm, the width is from 18.3 to 21.0 mm, the weight is 8.3–8.88 g. 5 mm. Young emerge on the surface in autumn, more often in the following spring. It feeds on various invertebrates and small vertebrates.

Numbers and trends

swamp turtle as early as the beginning of the 20th century. represented the most common numerous species along the entire northeastern coast of the Black Sea. The collection of ZM Moscow State University has specimens from Anapa (No. 26, Belogolovy, 1907). A. A. Silantiev found them in Kudepsta and Adler.

The same author calls the Adler lowland the real kingdom of these turtles. The number is declining everywhere: on 1 km, on average, 3 individuals were counted. In 1977-1978, the marsh turtle was common in the vicinity of the village. Sergei-Pole, in 1980–1981 didn't see a single animal. Known population from the village. Mamaika disappeared in the 90s of the twentieth century. In the Dry Liman and the lake. Abrau numbers are extremely low.

Limiting factors

Construction railway Tuapse - Sukhumi, stretching along the Black Sea coast, draining the swamps of the Imeretinskaya lowland, the rapid development of resort construction along the entire coast from Anapa to Batumi and the intensive transformation of land for farmland, and then recreational facilities, direct extermination by humans. The limiting factors include the catch of animals (large lots go on sale in the markets major cities regions and exported to the cities of the Russian Federation), destruction of biotopes.

Necessary and additional security measures

Organization of a reserve on the Imeretinskaya lowland or the inclusion of this site in the SNP, the organization of the Novorossiysk reserve. Implementation of measures to prevent illegal capture and trafficking of animals.

Sources of information. 1. Anan'eva et al., 2004; 2. Bannikov et al., 1977; 3. Nikolsky, 1915; 4. Tuniev B. S., 1987b; 5. Tuniev B. S. et al., 1988; 6. Tuniev B. S., Lebedeva, 1986; 7. Shibanov, 1935; 8. IUCN, 2004; 9 Fritz, 1994; 10. Tuniyev and Nilson, 1995; 11. Unpublished data of compilers. Compiled by B. S. Tuniev, S. B. Tuniev.

Cited literature: , classification - https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

Turtles are reptiles, this detachment is already more than 220 million years old, and they are rightfully considered the oldest animals in the world. There are a large number of species of turtles, and each of them lives in its own environment - these are steppes and forests, ponds and lakes, rivers, seas and mountains.

A feature of these animals is a small streamlined head, which the turtle can hide inside the shell in case of danger. There is also a short tail hiding. Turtles breed by laying eggs and burying them in the sand. These animals prefer a solitary lifestyle. Only in mating season they are looking for a community of their own kind. But there are some species that gather in groups during the winter.

Despite the fact that the turtle's brain is poorly developed, the animal has color vision and good results in the field of intelligence. Turtles are one of the most beloved pets, children are drawn to them. But before you get this pet in the house, you need to find out the details of the conditions for its maintenance.

Everyone knows the expression "slow as a turtle." This applies to large land turtles, which are quickly hindered by their heavy carapace. But the same cannot be said about marine and freshwater animals.

For example, the fastest turtle in the world is a leatherback. It lives in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. If necessary, it can develop a speed of movement under water up to 35 km / h, this is the highest speed indicator among reptiles, it is also capable of diving to a depth of 1200 meters. But on land, its speed indicators are much more modest. In addition, among all turtles, the leatherback turtle has the largest dimensions (body length 2.5 m) and weight (the largest individual measured had a weight of 916 kg). There is an opinion that it is water that is for turtles natural environment. However, only marine species swim well, freshwater and only a few land species. Other land and semi-aquatic types can even drown in water.

Turtles are considered to be the centenarians of the animal world, however, only huge land species, for example, elephants, live up to 100 years or more. If we talk about pets about 30 cm long, then they can only live up to 50 years, and then only with good care for them and proper nutrition. Turtles 50 - 60 cm long can live up to 70 years. This makes it possible to conclude that the age of a turtle directly depends on the maximum size of its species. The rings that appear annually on the scutes that make up the shell can tell about the age of turtles.

Interestingly, there are turtles whose shell is quite soft. And oddly enough, this feature helps them defend themselves from predators. Such turtles hide from enemies in the crevices of stones. So, the soft shell has trionics chinensis. This is a somewhat non-standard turtle - it has a soft shell, as it lacks horny shields, and is covered with skin. This is the only representative of soft-bodied turtles living in Russia.

The marsh turtle lives in the Stavropol Territory. The maximum size of its shell reaches 23 cm. These animals are active during the day and at dusk. Turtles are fast swimmers, good divers and can stay underwater for long periods of time. They often come ashore and can lie motionless for hours, basking in the sun. In case of danger, they immediately rush into the water and burrow at the bottom. The diet includes insects, algae and water plants.

There is an opinion that, communicating with people, turtles remember their faces. To an affectionate speech, they stretch their neck, and to a rude reaction it is different - the turtle hides in its shell.