Turtles and tortoises are both reptiles, have scales, lay eggs, and are ectothermic creatures. However turtles and tortoises are different from one another in where they live and how they use their habitat. For instance, turtles are typically known to spend most of their lives in water. They tend to have webbed feet for swimming and are especially adapted for aquatic life. These creatures possess long feet that form flippers and a streamlined body shape that makes swimming an easy task.
Generally turtles rarely leave the ocean, except for when the female comes ashore to lay her eggs. Other turtles live in fresh water, lakes, and ponds. These turtles can swim but can also be commonly found climbing out onto banks, logs or rocks to bask in the sun. In cold weather, they burrow in the mud until spring brings warm weather again.
Tortoises on the other hand are land dwellers that eat low growing shrubs, grasses and sometimes even feast upon cactuses. These creatures are unlike turtles as they do not possess webbed feet. Rather, their feet are round and stumpy for walking on land. Tortoises live in humid, dry habitats and use their strong stumpy legs to dig burrows in which they slide into to hide when the sun is too hot.
Most tortoises are also different from turtles because many of them have a high dome shaped shell. Some tortoises live in mountains or forests. When it is time to hibernate they bury themselves in soil or underneath rotting plants until it is time to reemerge.
Tortoises are generally much larger than turtles. Some are very large, such as the Galapagos Tortoise which grows to about one and a half meters long. These creatures can even live for about 200 years or so.
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