Painted turtle skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. They live in slow-moving fresh waters.
Turtles have a hard upper shell called ‘carapace’ that protects them like a shield. Aquatic turtles have lighter and softer shells that help them avoid sinking in water and swim faster with more agility.
Turtles are reptiles. Some aquatic turtles can absorb oxygen through the skin on their neck enabling them to hibernate underwater.
Turtles have color vision with sensitivities ranging from the near ultraviolet (UV A) to red. Turtles have visible irises, colored in green or brown, where as most tortoises have black irises that blend in with the pupil.
The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects. Turtles have webbed flipper-type feet for swimming where as Tortoises feet look more like an elephant feet
Turtles and Tortoises may look alike to most people, but they are quite different from each other.