What Are the Different Types of Turtles?

You can group turtles into two main groups: aquatic and land turtles. Of course, there are sub-groups within these main groups as well.

Aquatic Turtles

Aquatic turtles are one type of turtle.

Some aquatic turtles, also called sea turtles, can swim 20 miles per hour or 32 kilometres per hour.
Most of them are endangered and it is illegal to catch them.
They are hunted for food, for making ornaments out of their shell, or for leather.

Freshwater vs. Sea Turtles

You can further break aquatic turtles down into freshwater and sea turtles:

Freshwater

Some common freshwater turtles are: chicken turtle, painted turtle, map turtle or saw back turtle, red eared slider, and the big bend slider.
Chicken turtles have a long striped neck and a yellow stripe on their legs. They have a pear-shaped shell that is a dark brown of olive color. They live between 20 and 24 years and are omnivorous.
Painted turtles have a beautiful design on the bottom of their shells and live in soft, muddy bottoms of lakes, marshes, and ponds. They are carnivorous and live up to 30 years.
Map turtles are also called saw back turtles and have yellowish markings on their head, legs, and neck which resembles a map.
Red eared sliders are semi-aquatic omnivores found mainly in the southern U.S.
The big bend sliders are native to Texas and New Mexico and are omnivorous.

Sea Turtles

Types of sea turtles are: loggerhead, leatherback, green, kemp’s ridley, hawksbill, and the olive ridley.
Sea turtles include the loggerhead sea turtle which is named for its large head. They like to eat mollusks, crabs, and jellyfish.
The biggest sea turtle is the leatherback sea turtle and it can weigh almost 2000 lbs. or 900 kg. Its shell is covered with a leathery skin and its favorite food is jellyfish.
Green sea turtles are herbivorous and they have a serrated lower jaw perfect for eating sea grasses.
Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are very rare and are the smallest of the sea turtles.
The hawksbill sea turtle has a beautiful shell that has overlapping scales and it was hunted almost to extinction. The olive ridley sea turtle has a heart-shaped shell that is olive colored. They live in the Pacific Ocean.

Land Turtles

Land turtles live in warm climates and are herbivorous. Most are docile, but some are aggressive like the snapping turtle. Common land turtles are: desert tortoise, box turtles, gopher tortoise, wood turtles, and the Galapagos tortoise.

Many people know about the box turtle, whose shell is hinged and can close completely for defense.
Desert tortoises live in warm climates and weigh between eight and ten pounds. They burrow in the ground to escape the heat and can go a year without water. Most of the water they get comes from plants. It is illegal to touch one or to own one.
Box turtles have a hinged shell and they can get completely inside of it. Some common ones are tree-toed, ornate, and eastern box turtles.
Gopher turtles live where the soil is dry. They burrow in the ground for long distances and eat many kinds of plants. Wood turtles are omnivores that will go into water for food and they have a pyramid-shaped design on its upper shell.
The Galapagos tortoises live on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean near South America. Their life span can reach 150 years and they live only on land. They can weigh 882 pounds or 400 kilograms and can reach 6 feet or 1.8 meters in length. They are the largest species of land turtle.

So, now you know more about what the different kinds of turtles are and how they can be broken down into groups.