1. There are about 230 species of turtles on Earth, they live on almost all continents except Antarctica. Only three species of turtles live in Europe. The pond turtle can be found very rarely in the basins of the Khopra and Sura rivers.

2. Turtles have inhabited our planet for more than 200 million years. They live both in water and on land, surrounding us everywhere. Scientists cannot determine where turtles came from.

3. Turtles are long-livers, their life expectancy is up to 150 years. But there are recorded cases when turtles lived up to 188 years. The rings that appear on the scutes of the shell every year can tell you about the turtle’s age.

4. The opinion that turtles are slow and unable to move quickly is wrong. For example, in a number of countries, turtle races are even held, the participants of which can reach speeds of up to 700 meters per hour. By the way, leatherback sea turtles are not only excellent divers (they can dive to a depth of 1200 m): they can also move at a speed of about 35 km/h.

5. Turtles have good vision, smell, hearing and touch. Their shell contains nerve endings. With prolonged communication with people, turtles begin to recognize them by their appearance and smell.

6. Turtles are incredibly tenacious. Some of them can go without food for five years and go without air for about 10 hours. They can live with very serious injuries. For example, the Italian zoologist Francesco Redi conducted an inhumane experiment in the 17th century: he cut out a turtle’s brain. After the operation, the unfortunate animal lived for another six months.

7. Turtles’ shells contain phosphorus. If it lies in the sun during the day, it will phosphoresce at night. Such a glow was noticed in Uzbekistan. A golden eagle hunting turtles would bring turtles to a rock and throw them, trying to break their shells. The rock with the turtle shells was named Glowing Rock.

8. The slowest turtle in the world is considered to be a turtle named Chester, who escaped from his owners in 1960 and was found 35 years later by their neighbor 686 meters from the house.

9. The largest turtle alive today is the leatherback turtle. Its body weight can reach 900 kg, and its length is 2.5 m.

10. The largest turtle known to science is the Archelon turtle, which lived during the Cretaceous period (145–66 million years BC), reaching 4 m in size and weighing 2 tons.

11. Surgeons removed 915 coins weighing 5 kg from the stomach of one old turtle. The reptile lived in the zoo for a long time and swallowed metal money that visitors threw into the aquarium. The operation to extract it lasted 4 hours.