tortoise
Other forms: tortoises
A tortoise is a reptile with a hard, rounded shell. It's a type of turtle that lives on land all the time — so bring your pet tortoise in the sandbox with you, but not in the pool!
A tortoise is a turtle, but a turtle isn't necessarily a tortoise! While most turtles are excellent swimmers and spend much of their time in the water, tortoises are full-time land dwellers. Their shells are more rounded than those of the typical turtle, and they don't have webbed feet. These are adaptations that help tortoises thrive on land, although they are notoriously slow (think "The Tortoise and the Hare").
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usually herbivorous land turtles having clawed elephant-like limbs; worldwide in arid area except Australia and Antarcticatypes:giant tortoisevery large tortoises of the Galapagos and Seychelles islandsGopherus polypemus, gopher, gopher tortoise, gopher turtleburrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North AmericaGopherus agassizii, desert tortoiseburrowing tortoise of the arid western United States and northern Mexico; may be reclassified as a member of genus XerobatesTexas tortoiseclose relative to the desert tortoise; may be reclassified as a member of genus Xerobatestype of:turtleany of various aquatic and land reptiles having a bony shell and flipper-like limbs for swimming
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Vocabulary lists containing tortoise
Explore the world of animals with this list of words that will make you go hog wild! From aardvarks to zebras, it's sure to be more fun than a barrel full of monkeys!
Explore the world of animals with this collection of words that will make you go hog wild! From aardvarks to zebras, it's sure to be more fun than a barrel full of monkeys! Here are links to our lists in the collection: List 1, List 2, List 3, A Vocabulary Bestiary