Today’s photos of the day are captures of the turtle . I got some close up shots while sitting near a pond in a park watching them swim and walk around.

For those of you who don’t know the difference between a tortoise and turtle . Tortoises are mostly land animals and can not survive in water , whereas turtles can live on both land and water. There is also the difference in the shape of their shells. The tortoises have domed shaped shell and the turtles have flatter shells.

Did you know one of the interesting facts about turtles is that they evolved before mammals ,birds, snakes ,crocodiles etc.They have been on earth for more than a 200 million years, from the time of the dinosaurs!The earlier species could not retract their head into the shell. Sixty different bones are connected together to form the shell of a turtle , the shell has nerve ending which make them sensitive to touch and they have great eye sight and smell as well.Sadly they are endangered species and need to be protected.