 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2011) |
This is a list of fictional turtles, tortoises, and terrapins from literature, movies and other elements of popular culture.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2011) |
This is a list of fictional turtles, tortoises, and terrapins from literature, movies and other elements of popular culture.
| Character | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aspidochelone | A giant turtle sea monster | |
| Br'er Turtle (Br'er Tarrypin) | Uncle Remus's folk tales | |
| Genbu | Japanese Mythology | |
| Kappa | Japanese Mythology | A turtle-like humanoid |
| Kurma | Hindu mythology | The second of the dashavatars of Vishnu |
| Mbeku | West African mythology | Trickster tortoise in Igbo and West African folktales |
| Minogame | Urashima Taro | A sea turtle, is said to be Otohime, daughter of the Emperor of the Sea |
| The Tortoise | The Tortoise and the Hare | from Aesop's Fables |
| Turtle Island | North American Indigenous Peoples | Lenape "Great Turtle", Iroquois "Hah-nu-nah" |
| World Turtle | Hindu mythology | Also referred to as Akupara, the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle |
| Character | Origin | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise | The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher | Beatrix Potter | One of Jeremy's two friends who brings him some salad for dinner. |
| Alfie | Esio Trot | Roald Dahl | Illustrated by Quentin Blake. |
| Cassiopeia | Momo | Michael Ende | |
| Clothahump | Spellsinger | Alan Dean Foster | Aged turtle wizard. |
| Fastitocalon | The Adventures of Tom Bombadil | J. R. R. Tolkien | A sea turtle the size of a small island, fooling mariners who attempted to land on him. |
| Franklin | Franklin the Turtle | Paulette Bourgeois | Illustrated by Brenda Clark. Adapted into an Animated Series and a CGI Series. |
| Great A'Tuin | Discworld | Terry Pratchett | The World Turtle, carrying the four elephants which hold the Discworld. |
| Leatherback turtle | The Wreck of the Zanzibar | Michael Morpurgo | A turtle nursed back to health by Laura and Granny May believes he participated in the Wreck of the Zanzibar. |
| Mock Turtle | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Lewis Carroll | |
| Morla | The Neverending Story | Michael Ende | A giant, wise swamp turtle. |
| Mudface | Doctor Dolittle | Hugh Lofting | Particularly Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake |
| Om | Small Gods | Terry Pratchett | A god briefly incarnated as a tortoise. |
| Ove | Bert Diaries [1] | Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson | Illustrated by Sonja Härdin. |
| Plautus/Lightning | Arcadia (play) | Tom Stoppard | In both the past and present portions of the play. |
| Slow-and-Solid | Just So Stories | Rudyard Kipling | A tortoise who is one of the protagonists the story. |
| Spotty | Old Mother West Wind | Thornton Burgess | |
| The Tortoise | What the Tortoise Said to Achilles | Lewis Carroll | Also in sequel dialogs in Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter |
| Tortoise | À rebours | Joris-Karl Huysmans | |
| Yertle and Mack | Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories | Dr. Seuss | A popular children's tale that cautions against despotism. Yertle is the grandiose king of the pond who decides he rules whatever he can see—and makes the turtles stack up to the sky. Mack is the turtle at the bottom who ultimately rebels and brings the stack crashing down. |
| Maturin | The Dark Tower (series) & It (novel) | Stephen King | Considered the most powerful of the guardians of the beams. |
| Minn | Minn of the Mississippi | Holling C. Holling | |
| Tortoise | The Grapes of Wrath [Chapter 3] | John Steinbeck | A tortoise crosses the road to get to the sea. Its struggle to do so (even being hit by a car and land on its back) can be read allegorically for the struggles the Joad family has to endure. |
| 'The tortoise(s)' | The Tortoises [org. title: Die Schildkröten ] | Veza Canetti | The novel takes place in Anschluss-Vienna and features tortoises in which a local craftsman intends to engrave swastikas as sign of welcome to the expected Nazis. Heartbroken about this practice, the Jewish protagonist Kain buys all the untouched ones and takes them home. One of them, however, still naturally features a swastika-like form on its shell. Kain's brother Werner, a stone specialist, particularly identifies with the tortoises. Yet all Jewish characters appear to do so in some way. Being forced to dine with the SA official Pilz, they present him with mock-turtle soup they do not eat themselves (as it is not koscher), one of them says: "We are the tortoises." Additionally, remarks to other popular uses of the tortoise's body (e.g. for combs) are briefly drawn attention to. Although the animal itself plays a minor character in the novel, it arguably stands symbolically for the novels characters and their resistance. |
| Character | Origin | First appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arnold | Weber | Best friend of Weber the ladybird in Gommaar Timmermans' comic series Weber. [2] | |
| Burocracia | Quino | Mafalda's pet | |
| Caroline | Boule et Bill | Bill's best friend. [3] | |
| Churchy LaFemme | Pogo | ||
| Donatello | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984) | Nicknames: Don, Donnie Weapon of choice: The bō (long staff) Bandana: red (Mirage/Image Comics), purple (elsewhere) |
| Elvis | Elvis | ||
| Fillmore | Sherman's Lagoon | ||
| Genbu | Yu Yu Hakusho | Villainous member of the saint beasts. | |
| Jack (Dolly) | Ox Tales | ||
| Jinmen | Devilman | Villain who puts people's faces into his shell. | |
| John the Turtle | B.C. | A friend of the Dookie Bird | |
| Leonardo | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984) | Nickname: Leo Weapon of choice: the Katana (sword) Bandana: red (Mirage/Image Comics), blue (elsewhere) |
| Michelangelo | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984) | Nicknames: Mike, Mikey Weapon of choice: The Nunchaku (nunchucks) Bandana: red (Mirage/Image Comics), orange (elsewhere) |
| The Millennium Tortoise | Image Comics | Goes to Aqua Leung | |
| Raphael | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (May 1984) | Nickname: Raph Weapon of choice: The sai Bandana: red |
| Skalman | Bamse | Friend of the title character | |
| Super-Turtle | DC Comics | ||
| Terrific Whatzit | DC Comics | ||
| Timmy-Joe Terrapin/Fastback | Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew | ||
| Tim Turtle | Lionel's Kingdom |
| Character | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crush | Finding Nemo | A sea turtle who is 150 years old in the film. He has a son named Squirt. |
| Gamera | Daiei Motion Picture Company | A giant, flying, fire-breathing turtle. |
| Giant sea turtle | The Bermuda Depths | A supernatural sea monster. |
| Grand Master Oogway | Kung Fu Panda | An aged giant tortoise, who was the kung fu master of Shifu. |
| Granny Pearl | Pajanimals | |
| Howard | Razzle Dazzle | |
| Kamoebas | Space Amoeba | |
| The Lion Turtle | Avatar: The Last Airbender | |
| Madge | It's a Big Big World | |
| Morla | The Neverending Story | |
| Pong Pagong | Batibot | |
| Shelly | Sesame Street | A Muppet turtle who appeared on Sesame Street. |
| Tardy Turtle | Greg the Bunny | A slow-witted set assistant. |
| Terraspin | Ben 10: Ultimate Alien | A turtle-like alien. |
| Tokka | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze | |
| Tortoise John | Rango | Mayor of Dirt, the desert town setting in the film. |
| Tuck | Wonder Pets | Tuck is a four-year-old turtle. He is described as sensitive with an emotional connection to living things |
| Verne | Over the Hedge | A cynical box turtle and the leader of the animal group. |
| Venus | Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation | |
| Lenny Turteltaub | Bojack Horseman | A turtle who is a Hollywood producer. |
| Character | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aloysius III | Infinity Train | The emperor and unifier of the hard and soft-shelled turtles. |
| Archie | The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists | An elderly Archelon who helps Littlefoot. |
| Baby Shelby | Mickey Mouse Works / House of Mouse | A baby turtle who always annoys and takes advantage of Donald Duck. |
| Bert the Turtle | Duck and Cover | A civil defense social guiding film shown to school children in the U.S. in the 1950s/60s to tell them what to do in case of the explosion of a nuclear bomb. |
| Bev Gilturtle | Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own | Bev Gilturtle is one of the main characters who is an energetic box turtle. [4] She tries to entertain the other pets as she can and she loves trying out various kinds of activities. |
| Burt | Danger Rangers | |
| Cecil Turtle | Merrie Melodies / Looney Tunes | Bugs Bunny's nemesis and rival. |
| Coco Jumbo | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind | A turtle with an ability to create a safe-house if a special key is placed on his back. Later hosts the soul of Jean-Pierre Polnareff. |
| Crush | Finding Nemo | A 150 year old sea turtle. |
| Dog | Taz-Mania | Taz's pet dog turtle |
| Filburt | Rocko's Modern Life | |
| Gallop | Babar and the Adventures of Badou | An elderly turtle who lives in the jungle near Celesteville. |
| Giant tortoise | Polar Bear Cafe | |
| Grandpa | Wild Kratts | An old, giant Galápagos tortoise. Martin named him that because of how old he is, estimated at 130 years. |
| Gramps | The Rescuers | |
| Hun | Turtles Forever | Gets mutated into a turtle |
| Ichikawa | Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto | |
| Kame Jiiya | Puka Puka Juju | |
| Kongwe | The Lion Guard | An African spurred tortoise. |
| Lucky | Bionic Max | |
| Sammy | A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures | A sea turtle who navigates his 50-year life through the changes caused by global warming. |
| Shelbow | The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning | A sea turtle who plays the drums (including his shell) in Disney's third The Little Mermaid movie. |
| Shelly T. Turtle | The Shelly T. Turtle Show | A yellow turtle who is the titular host of the show. |
| Slash | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | |
| Snappy Sam | The Comic Strip (TV series) | An anthropomorphic turtle who is the chef and owner of the diner whom "Honeylove" Loretta, of the Street Frogs, works as a waitress and kitchen helper. |
| Speed | The Swan Princess | |
| Tamachan | Love Hina | A flying turtle. |
| Tank | My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic | A tortoise who is Rainbow Dash's pet. |
| Thelma Tortoise | Manga Aesop's Fables | |
| Tippi Turtle | Saturday Night Live [5] [6] | An obnoxious practical joker created by Jack Zander |
| Toby Tortoise | The Tortoise and the Hare | |
| Toby Turtle | Robin Hood | Skippy's best friend that wears glasses. |
| Toby the Turtle | 64 Zoo Lane | A turtle who is friends with Kevin the Crocodile and Doris the Duck. |
| Toto | Harry & Toto | |
| Tuck | Wonder Pets | A turtle who is the middle child of the Wonder Pets. |
| Turner | Chucklewood Critters | |
| Turtle | Bossy Bear | |
| T.W. Turtle | Cats Don't Dance | A nervous and superstitious turtle who always relies on fortune cookies. |
| Tooter Turtle | Total Television | |
| Touché Turtle | Touché Turtle | |
| Turtle | The Red Turtle | A sea turtle turned into a human |
| Umigame (Turtle) | Dragon Ball | A sea turtle who is a companion of Master Roshi. He has a son named Umigame Jr. (Turtle, Jr.) English localized name: Turtle |
| Verne | Over the Hedge | |
| Crwban | Chwedlau Tinga Tinga | A happy and colourful cartoon turtle on Welsh language channel S4C - voiced by Geraint Iwan. |
| Character | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bentley | Sly Cooper | The Cooper Gang's technical aid, computer programmer and hacker. |
| Bowser | Super Mario Bros. | The main villain of the Super Mario series. |
| Bowser Jr. | Super Mario Sunshine | Bowser's son. |
| Devan Shell | Jazz Jackrabbit | Nemesis of Jazz |
| Gerson | Undertale | An elderly olive green tortoise-monster who runs a vendor in Waterfall. |
| Ghido | Final Fantasy V | Ancient turtle who guides Bartz and the Warriors of Light on their quest. |
| The giant turtle | The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask | Helps get to Great Bay Temple. |
| Hammer Bros. | Super Mario Bros. | Koopas that throw hammers as attack. |
| Kamek | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island | Caretaker of Bowser during his childhood. A Magikoopa capable of using various spells. |
| Koopa Troopa | Super Mario Bros. | Common enemy creatures in the Super Mario series. |
| Koopalings | Super Mario Bros. 3 | Bowser's seven minions. Their individual names are Wendy, Morton, Iggy, Larry, Lemmy, Roy, and Ludwig. |
| Kooper | Paper Mario | One of Mario's partners. An adventerous Koopa who intends to become an archaeologist. |
| Koops | Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door | One of Mario's partners. Compared to his predecessor Kooper, he is more cowardly. |
| Lakitu | Super Mario Bros. | One of the enemies in the Super Mario series. Also serves as the referee in spin-offs like Mario Tennis and Mario Kart . |
| Shen-zin Su | World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria | Giant sea turtle and starting zone for the Pandaren race. |
| Tiptup | Banjo Kazooie | Appears in Banjo Kazooie , Banjo Tooie and Diddy Kong Racing |
| Tortimer | Animal Crossing | The eccentric tortoise mayor of the town. |
| Valluta | RuneScape | An ancient tortoise-like creature that is one of the Guardians of Guthix. |
| Warnado | Skylanders | A spiky shelled Air-elemental tortoise. One of the playable characters in the series. |
| Character | Origin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mickael the Turtle | Mickael the Turtle | |
| Motu | Aquatica | |
| Peakaboo, Speedy | Beanie Baby | |
| Testudo | University of Maryland | |
| Tetter, Totter, and Corky | Suzy's Zoo | |
| Frumpy | USS Pasadena (SSN-752) |
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira and Cryptodira, which differ in the way the head retracts. There are 360 living and recently extinct species of turtles, including land-dwelling tortoises and freshwater terrapins. They are found on most continents, some islands and, in the case of sea turtles, much of the ocean. Like other amniotes they breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in or around water.
Tortoises are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines. Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like other members of the suborder Cryptodira, they retract their necks and heads directly backward into the shell to protect them.
Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the Galápagos Islands.
"Turtles all the way down" is an expression of the problem of infinite regress. The saying alludes to the mythological idea of a World Turtle that supports a flat Earth on its back. It suggests that this turtle rests on the back of an even larger turtle, which itself is part of a column of increasingly larger turtles that continues indefinitely.
The Bolson tortoise, also called the Mexican giant tortoise, Mexican gopher tortoise, yellow-bordered tortoise or yellow-margined tortoise, is a species of tortoise from North America. Of the six North American tortoise species, it is the largest, having a carapace length of about 46 cm (18 in). It lives in a region of the Chihuahuan Desert known as the Bolsón de Mapimí, which is located in north-central Mexico.
The Aldabra giant tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and genus Aldabrachelys. The species is endemic to the Seychelles, with the nominate subspecies, A. g. gigantea native to Aldabra atoll. It is one of the largest tortoises in the world. Historically, giant tortoises were found on many of the western Indian Ocean islands, as well as Madagascar, and the fossil record indicates giant tortoises once occurred on every continent and many islands with the exception of Australia and Antarctica.
The giant Asian pond turtle inhabits rivers, streams, marshes, and rice paddies from estuarine lowlands to moderate altitudes throughout Cambodia and Vietnam and in parts of Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.
The Russian tortoise, also commonly known as the Afghan tortoise, the Central Asian tortoise, the four-clawed tortoise, the four-toed tortoise, Horsfield's tortoise, the Russian steppe tortoise, the Soviet Tortoise, and the steppe tortoise, is a threatened species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to Central Asia from the Caspian Sea south through Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and east across Kazakhstan to Xinjiang, China. Human activities in its native habitat contribute to its threatened status.
The Black Tortoise is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is usually depicted as a tortoise intertwined with a snake. The character '武' can mean 'martial' or 'warrior.' The two characters 玄 and 武 do not have any literal meaning of tortoise and snake. But both tortoise and snake are known to hibernate during winter. The image of intertwined tortoise and snake likely symbolizes a state of inner struggle or a state of hibernation, and thus implies the season of winter. So the English translation Black ~ Dark ~ Mysterious Warrior is a more faithful translation.
The Cryptodira are a suborder of Testudines that includes most living tortoises and turtles. Cryptodira differ from Pleurodira in that they lower their necks and pull the heads straight back into the shells, instead of folding their necks sideways along the body under the shells' marginals. They include among their species freshwater turtles, snapping turtles, tortoises, softshell turtles, and sea turtles.
The yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle, also known commonly as the yellow-headed sideneck turtle and the yellow-spotted river turtle, and locally as the taricaya, is one of the largest South American river turtles.
Forsten's tortoise, also known commonly as the Sulawesi tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.
Macrochelys is a genus of very large freshwater turtles in the family Chelydridae, native to the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. Only a single extant species was recognized until 2014, when a study divided it into two, or possibly three species. These turtles are easily recognized by three distinct dorsal ridges with raised spikes.
The six-tubercled Amazon River turtle or six-tubercled river turtle is a species of turtle in the family Podocnemididae.
Turtles are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures. Due to their long lifespan, slow movement, sturdiness, and wrinkled appearance, they are an emblem of longevity and stability in many cultures around the world. Turtles are regularly incorporated into human culture, with painters, photographers, poets, songwriters, and sculptors using them as subjects. They have an important role in mythologies around the world, and are often implicated in creation myths regarding the origin of the Earth. Sea turtles are a charismatic megafauna and are used as symbols of the marine environment and environmentalism.
The Myuchelys is a genus of turtles, the Australian saw-shelled turtles, in the family Chelidae and subfamily Chelodininae. They inhabit the headwaters and tributaries of rivers within their range and this led to the name Myuchelys, which is formed from the Aboriginal word myuna meaning clear water and the Greek chelys meaning turtle. They have a short neck and the intergular scute completely separates the gular scutes. They have no alveolar ridge separating them from the snapping turtles of the genus Elseya.
Homopus femoralis, commonly known as the greater padloper, is a small tortoise of the genus Homopus, indigenous to the highveld grasslands of South Africa.
Chelonoidis is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies.
John L. Behler was an American naturalist, herpetologist, author, and activist known for his work in conserving endangered species of turtles, snakes, and other reptiles. He served as curator of herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, part of the Wildlife Conservation Society from 1976 to 2006. He co-chaired the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, and was a founding member of the Turtle Survival Alliance, which co-present the Behler Turtle Conservation Award with the Turtle Conservancy and Turtle Conservation Fund. The Behler Turtle Conservation Award is a major annual award to honor leadership in the field of freshwater turtle and tortoise conservation. The Turtle Conservancy named its captive breeding center, the Behler Chelonian Center, in his honor.
Chelonoidis niger phantasticus is a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise that was discovered in 1906 and thought extinct, until a single female was discovered living on Fernandina Island by an expedition in February 2019. In May 2021, a genetic test carried out by scientists from the California Academy of Sciences confirmed that the single female tortoise discovered in 2019 is from the subspecies Chelonoidis niger phantasticus. The subspecies name has often been misspelled as phantastica, an error introduced in the 1980s when Chelonoidis was elevated to genus and mistakenly treated as feminine, an error recognized and fixed in 2017.