Route recommendations - Austin to Seattle

It's strange, we will call a Galapagos a tortoise, never a turtle, but a Terrapene is called a box turtle, despite the fact that it is a tortoise, not a turtle. So it is really both. Any turtle or tortoise besides the Galapagos tortoise is referred to a turtle by most people that I have known. I have never heard anyone refer to a turtle as a tortoise.

Most of the people that have seen this one have never heard of the African Spurred. They call her a turtle every time. The African Spurred Tortoise is endangered in Africa but they are far from rare in captivity.

Yikes! The feet having webbing or not is a big giveaway.

I guess growing up owning box (turtles?), red ears, and even snapping turtles makes the difference seem obvious where it would not be to some, but come on, this person should have known better or asked someone else if they work with an organization that deals with a variety of animals.

There was a local African Spurred that escaped the owner's yard, this one was almost 40 pounds. His main concern was that someone would find it and take it to the water and throw it in, thinking that is where it had come from. (They found it, BTW).

That would suck, but my main concern would have been that my 40 pound rock was walking around, potentially onto the roadways. Hitting that thing at speed in your miata could be, interesting, to say the least....Trying to avoid it might cause similar problems.

Thanks! It looks like a friend may keep her. He keeps telling me that I will be back soon anyway.

Pat

"Eric Baber" wrote in news:xdpOh.27075$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net:

So, as someone with no particular interest in turtles and a victim* of American English, I had to look up the difference between the two.. Here's a reasonable description:

The gospel according to St. Encyclopedia Britannica:

turtle Any of more than 250 species (order Chelonia) of reptiles having a bony shell overlaid with horny shields; found in most parts of the world.

tortoise Any of some 40 species (family Testudinidae) of slow-moving, terrestrial, herbivorous turtles, found in the Old and New Worlds but chiefly in Africa and Madagascar. So tortoises are turtles but turtles aren't always tortoises.

I learned something, I didn't know tortoises are included in the term "turtle".

claiming

remember

No, no, no, Pat, it's the 70's you're not supposed to be able to remember!

Iva & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata (Seventies? What seventies?)

Young whippersnapper. For some of us, it's the '60s.

And for some of us it's the '40s.

Your 40's or the 1940's?

Iva & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata

And for others of us, it is the '50s.

And '60s. And 70s'. And '80s. And '90s. And '00s.

And 30 seconds ago.

Leon :)

Nice!

Chris

I actually had no idea! I have to plead ignorance on that one. Thanks for the info.

Chris

You taught me something too.

Now I have to confuse my friends even further by explaining that yes she is a turtle and a tortoise, but still keep her out of any water above her head.....

Man!

Pat

Another victim, ha!

r.a.m.m. - the newsgroup about fast-moving cars and slow-moving animals.... :-)

Pat

No, I still have clear memories of early childhood from that decade.

It was not until the 1980's that I was experimenting with recreational drugs, or doing full-scale research, depending on how you look at it.

I did not, however, inhale, even once, so I am still good to go when I run for office. :-)

Pat

Yet you are the only person here to have seen her except on video. Of course, we were talking about miatas instead of animals, something that should probably be done here as well.

Nah! Check out this video of a tortoise defending his territory against cats. He hauls ass. I normally would not condone a making film like this, but neither creature could really hurt the other.

Absolutely, though I can't speak for the 50's, and I was only around for

Now what were you talking about? I already forgot. :-)

Pat

ROFL!!! That's one mean tortoise, I wouldn't want to get in a tangle with that one......

Like they say, "If you remember the 60s, you probably weren't there" :)