Author: Shreim Agrawal, Class VII B
“We live in a culture full of hares; but the tortoise always wins”~ Dave Ramsey
“Tortoise steps, slow steps, four steps like a tank with a tail dragging in the sand. Tortoise steps, land based, land locked, dusty like the desert tortoise herself, fenced in, a prisoner on her own reservation- teaching us the slow art of revolutionary patience.”~ Terry Tempest Willams.
Unusual facts about tortoises:-
1. The gender of a tortoise egg isn’t determined right away. Being a reptile, a tortoise’s life revolves around the climate of a region. When the surrounding temperature of the eggs is warmer, more female tortoises hatch; when it’s colder, more males hatch.
2. Tortoises can extract water and nutrients from even the most paltry bites. Their hindgut system works like a double digestive tract, separating water from their waste. When water’s scarce, they’ll hang on to water waste and simply excrete the urates, which look like white toothpaste.
3. The tortoise is the symbol of the Greek god Hermes.
4. 23rd May is celebrated as World Tortoise Day.
