The following specifications are explained:
We hereby want to thank Roger Poland of Euro Turtle for letting us use the animations and pictures that were placed on his site. The copying of articles and pictures is only permitted when it is used for educational purposes and it always have to have an acknowledgement of Foundation Turtle.
The plastron and the Carapax.
The order of the plates of the plastron
Gular. Humeral, Pectoral, Abdominal, Femoral, Anal
The plastron of a turtle
(Picture Foundation Turtle)
The order of the Carapax
Vertebral, Pleura, Marginal
The carapax of a turtle
(Photo Foundation Turtle)
The Skeleton
Below you will see the skeleton of a turtle that is dissected and put together again. The downloading of this animation can last a few seconds.
Animation of the skeleton
(Animation : Euro Turtle)
Order and names of the skeleton, an order can generally be made as follows, the number of "vertebras" is indicated between brackets:
Cervical (8)
Dorsal vertebra (10)
Sacral vertebra or sacrum (2)
Caudal or tail bone (20-30)
The skeleton of a turtle
(Picture : Euro Turtle)
The picture below is the side-view of a turtle. On this photo you can clearly see that the dorsal vertebras are situated against the carapax. The photo underneath shows a skeleton of a real Common european pond turtle.
The Skeleton of a Turtle.
(Picture : Euro Turtle)
The Skeleton of a Turtle.
(Photo : Foundation Turtle )
As is the case with people, the skull of turtles also consists of many bones, and we have included this picture to give you an impression what they look like and what their names are:
The side-view of the skull of a turtle
(Picture : Euro Turtle)
The paws of turtles of course have several functions, with tortoises this is particularly to move on, but they also use it to rip their food into pieces while they are eating. This also goes for the pond turtles with the mention that these turtles can move quickly and flexible through the water because they have plicas between their toes. Whereas turtles and other various kinds of freshwater (softshell) turtles have, in our opinion, forepaws that have become fins. The only thing that makes it obvious that these paws have adjusted to the aquatic life can be seen on the picture below:
The paws of a turtle
(Picture : Euro Turtle)
Complete cutaway picture of a Turtle
Before we will discuss the individual organs and entrails first a general view:
The entrails of a turtle
(Picture : Soptom)
It is clear from the picture above how well the various entrails are protected by the shell, especially the heart, which is right behind the forepaws, is an excellent example of this.
© 2006 Foundation Turtle
