May 23 every year is celebrated globally as World Turtle Day. The day aims at bringing more attention and learning more about these sea creatures and how to help them survive. The day has been sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue since the year 2000. The American Tortoise Rescue, is a nonprofit organization which works for the protection of all species of tortoise and turtle. The day was observed to bring to notice the disappearing habitats of these sea animals. Each year there are different programmes organised all of which aim to highlight the ways in which we can save the turtles. Awareness is created among people on how to deal if they come across a turtle somewhere. Giant Tortoise Helonoidis Phantasticus Believed to Be Extinct for More Than a Century Found in Galapagos Island (See Pictures).

The American Turtle Rescue (ATR) founded in the year 1990 has been doing a lot of protection campaigns to help the turtles, tortoise and their species. The organisation helps in finding new homes and also in rehabilitation of these creatures. On this World Turtle Day 2019, let us know some interesting facts about them. Turtle Graveyard in Indian Ocean! Spooky Skeletons of Sea Turtles Found in Underwater Caves in Malaysia (Watch Video).

8 Interesting Facts About Turtles

  1. Turtles are among the oldest groups of reptiles that are known to us. The earliest of some turtles lived about 215 million years ago.

  2. The upper shell of a turtle is called a carapace and the lower one is called a plastron. How Did Turtles Get Their Shell? Ancient Fossil With No Shell Tries to Solve The Mystery of Turtle Evolution.

  3. There are over 350 species alive today, but most of them are endangered.

  4. The largest living turtle is the leatherback turtle. It can grow a shell length of 200 cm (6.6 ft) and can reach a weight of over 900 kg.

  5. Sea turtles have special glands which help to remove the salt from their drinking water.

  6. Not all turtles can hide their heads inside their shells.

  7. Some species of turtles emit weird sounds. This happens when they are forcing air out of their lungs. The weirdest sound is made by nesting female leatherback sea turtles which are said to resemble a human belching.

  8. Since turtles don't have eardrums they cannot hear as well like all other animals or humans. They have small bones in inner ears which can help to distinguish sounds and vibrations.

Watch Video About Endangered Sea Turtles and the Threats Faced by Them:

The above facts show that these creatures do have some distinctly special features. With over 300 species of the creature, it is indeed saddening that 70% of them are facing the dangers of extinction.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 23, 2019 09:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).