The Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. With lifespans of over 100 years, they are one of the longest-lived vertebrates. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning "tortoise".

The inside of the alligator snapping turtle's mouth is camouflaged, and it possesses a worm-shaped appendage on the tip of its tongue that it uses to lure fish, a form of aggressive mimicry.

Turtles appear to have lost their teeth about 150-200 million years ago. Their upper and lower jaws are instead covered by horny ridges. Carnivorous turtles usually have knife-sharp ridges for slicing through their prey. Herbivorous turtles have serrated-edged ridges that help them cut through tough plants. They use their tongues to swallow food, but unlike most reptiles, they cannot stick their tongues out to catch food.

Earthworms, a favorite food, are lured to the surface by stomping the front feet and the plastron against the ground. It is believed that earthworms interpret the vibrations as rain. The wood turtle is the only turtle known to employ such a technique.

On average, sea turtles lay 110 eggs in a nest, and average between 2 to 8 nests a season. The smallest clutches are laid by Flatback turtles, approximately 50 eggs per clutch. The largest clutches are laid by hawksbills, which may lay over 200 eggs in a nest.

Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) is the smallest of all sea turtle species, and also the world's most endangered species of sea turtles. They mate offshore and nest mostly on a 16-mile beach in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and on Padre Island in the U.S. state of Texas. They are the only sea turtles that routinely nest during the day.

There are 7 species of sea turtles throughout the entire world, and five of the seven are found in Florida: Green, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Hawksbill, and Kemp's Ridley.