now you may be asking yourself does
coyote Peterson always have a tiny
turtle in his pocket well not always but
today we're going to talk about the
differences between the turtle them
tortoise they hold on to function
turtles turtles turtles for nearly 200
million years a reptile we all know as
the turtle has inhabited our planet
these cold-blooded ectotherms are
protected by a hard bony shell they
breathe air and eat their food using a
beak of the 327 known species that exist
today some live in water while others
can be found on land since childhood I
have been fascinated by the seemingly
slow-moving creatures yet too many
people surprise they're actually quite
speedy especially when in the water but
what about the land-dwelling stumpy
footed slow-moving reptile that somehow
defeated that speedy rabbit yes I am
talking about The Tortoise and the one
question people are always asking is it
tortoise a turtle or is a turtle a
tortoise well there is an answer to that
question and to help us get to the
bottom of this timeless mystery we are
going to get the cameras up close to one
of the largest species in the world okay
I hope everybody out there watching is
excited because right here in this bag
I've got a bunch of vegetables you guys
know the vegetables are good for you
right okay I don't think anybody's going
to get excited about it well maybe
you're not excited about the vegetables
but you should be excited about who is
going to eat these vegetables you guys
ready to see a giant tortoise how big is
a tortoise at all you brought a lot is
there gonna need all that or what's
going to eat all of it we're probably
going to run out of food before we're
done filming the segment really if you
guys are ready let's go meet buckshot
buckshot I like that name oh yeah she's
my buddy
there you are
oh my goodness hi buckshot this is the
Galapagos tortoise the largest tortoise
species in the world and what we're
going to do today is feed her her dinner
okay but I ain't what we're going all
the foods ever here first the bike well
there's a big tortoise poufy stuff in
that I may have said I'm useless oh did
I do it
oh I might have done it oh oh oh my food
oh man uh not just a ton for clothes is
this with you no oh my waste buckshot
there we go now one very distinctive
about tortoises and turtles is the
length of that neck and she's holding up
the entire weight of her body and
stretching out her neck and they would
do this in the wild to forge for plants
that were higher up she could pull down
them fruits and berries look into those
chopper tat shop of that beak now I'm
trying to pay attention to where your
cameras at mark but I also have to pay
attention to her because you see when
she bites out she bites and lunges her
head forward and I do not want to lose a
finger in that beak whew that's a little
close there oh we are in South Florida
right now and this is one of the only
galapagos tortoises in captivity here in
this area we were given the opportunity
to film with her now she is 25 years old
and she weighs 140 count she actually
almost bit my nose right there
no my nose is not romaine lettuce and
she is an absolute giant this tortoise
weighs just about as much as I do I
weigh 155 pounds so this creature is
absolutely massive and oh boy she's like
about to step on top of my leg
Oh watch this this is cool watch how
high she can bounce up her 140 pound
body you see that if I even get it all
in the frame it's like a Brachiosaurus
at the top of a tree
now the Galapagos tortoise is an
herbivore and they get a large
percentage of their moisture
through the food that they eat and you
can see how juicy ain't close to my
fingers okay we're moving on to the next
piece you can see how juicy a lot of
these vegetables are oh here's something
look at this oh look at that okay down
look at that she's standing on my leg he
is pushing my ankle ha
I never thought I would be feeling a
Galapagos tortoise I am the one day we
can end up on go Appa ghost island one
of the island oh that's better now she's
not actually huh my ankle and feed some
of these tortoises in the wild how about
the cucumber let's have some cucumber
that is my personal favorite there you
go you know what you should do a lady in
the Tramp with the cucumber that's one
in your mouth
ready server uh-oh she's can deny me
right he does one more bite ah it's too
close to my nose no no no no no
[Music]
thank you closer she gets right now is
there any work to go as I quote Jesus
I'm telling you if I get my fingers
stuck in that beak is going to be game
over she could easily snip off the tip
of my finger Wow
[Music]
oh she did who she's after these at 25
years old she is only about a fifth of
the side now 140 pounds they can grow to
be close to a thousand count imagine
something that is five times this size
look me hugging a tortoise oh wow mr.
Bergner harpy no nothing inside of that
solid bone carapace Wow I am just such
awe of this creature like it is madam
you believe and this is rare that
there's not like a Galapagus tortoise
and you know every street corner no many
zoos do have Galapagos Tortoises but
they're actually really hard to take
care of in captivity so this is a very
unique situation for us to be able to
get up close with this animal and like I
said I would love to be on the island of
Galapagos someday filming these
creatures in the wild but we certainly
weren't going to pass up the opportunity
to get this one up close for the cameras
so coyote I have a question so we keep
talking about turtles and tortoises and
I'm a little confused what separates a
tortoise from a turtle great question
technically all tortoises are Turtles
but not all turtles are tortoises think
about after a second kind of crazy right
a bit of a brain scrambler let's look at
the body structure of the tortoise and
that's what will help us distinguish
this as being separate from a lot of the
aquatic turtles that reduce to getting
up close to right you want it out let's
do that okay where do you want to start
let's talk about size size yes massive
size now tortoises are large because
they constantly are feeding right all
this animals on a daily basis is crawl
out into the Sun heat up for a couple of
hours and then it forges all day long so
the more eats the larger growth and look
at the rugged body structure ripe many
tortoise species live in rugged
environments which has allowed them to
adapt through a body structure like this
their skin is like leather feels just
like an old catcher's mitt put your hand
out there and feel that kind of feels
like an no Rhino or an elephant right
and interesting that you mention
elephant skin because look at this leg
structure ok both the front legs no
webbing on the feet just these big
gnarly pods and these stumped claws and
then the backbeat specifically here come
back here look at this let me get her in
put her foot down looks just like what a
scary ghost if she like an elephant good
yeah and that's called elephantine leg
structure and when she lets her body up
whoo careful oh so cut it again that's
it for a big turtle look how big her
paws next to my hand I don't I keep that
there too long because if she does step
down on my finger she can crush them
that's a bit of a risky position if you
may see that they do have claws and just
like turtles they lay eggs now let's
look at the shell structure as compared
to a turtle a tortoise has a much more
domed shell structure right turtles are
streamlines they have narrower shells
that allow them to quickly move through
the water
a tortoise doesn't go in the water a
tortoise just needs to be able to
traverse over land well so it sounds
like tortoises are specialized in living
on land so that's the big difference
that is I would say the biggest
difference between most turtle species
and tortoises is that tortoises are
specialized for living on land now you
do have some land turtle species like
the box turtle and the wood turtle two
of my favorites that live in the United
States however tortoises you'll never
find them in the water right you're
never going to come across a pond and
say oh there's a tortoise swimming Rock
now tourism a crawl into a puddle of
water to drink and to cool itself off
but you'll never find them swimming
kind of kind of submerged through like a
giant pink is she full no oh she's never
full while I definitely say that we
learned a lot today and it technically
all tortoises are turtles the thing that
distinguishes a tortoise as a tortoise
is that it is adapted for a life on land
and I can tell you this much you never
want to bring it towards to a salad
defense I think they could wipe out a
salad bar about plenty of Italy the
Galapagos tortoise I'm coyote Peterson
be brave stay wild we'll see on the next
adventure later book shot the turtle is
an evolutionary phenomenon that has
fascinated both children and adults
since the dawn of mankind and whether
you think they are adorable
or scary slimy or scaling I think there
are two things we can all certainly
agree upon
turtles are one of the most unique
animals on the planet
and I like turtles if you thought
beating the Galapagos tortoise was
fascinating make sure to go back and
watch the episode where I fed carrots to
another giant with an appetite
the moose and don't forget subscribe if
you join me in the crew on this season
of dragon tail hold on to it better pull
it out of your mouth and don't hit your
team or people want dentures sometimes
bruising here hold on
you
