--- title: The Most Endangered Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises description: Is there anything more harmless than a turtle? (Unless, I suppose, you're a nice, leafy vegetable.) Turtles and tortoises—the main difference is that turtles dwell... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7219156/the-most-endangered-freshwater-turtles-and-tortoises/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-05-23T12:54:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T14:53:33.219Z article:section: Science og:title: The Most Endangered Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises og:description: Is there anything more harmless than a turtle? (Unless, I suppose, you're a nice, leafy vegetable.) Turtles and tortoises—the main difference is that turtles dwell... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7219156/the-most-endangered-freshwater-turtles-and-tortoises/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt818f9ff11b9423b2/6998b5c393610c2c7bc2dc3a/42-18396195.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Worker from Rome's Biopark zoo holds a Testudo Kleinmanni hatchling in Rome og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Most Endangered Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises twitter:description: Is there anything more harmless than a turtle? (Unless, I suppose, you're a nice, leafy vegetable.) Turtles and tortoises—the main difference is that turtles dwell... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt818f9ff11b9423b2/6998b5c393610c2c7bc2dc3a/42-18396195.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # The Most Endangered Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) May 23, 2013 12:54 PM UTC  22 May 2007, Rome, Italy --- A worker from Rome's Biopark zoo holds a Testudo Kleinmanni hatchling, an endangered species also known as an Egyptian tortoise, in Rome May 22, 2007\. The offspring is the hatchling of several Egyptian tortoises that were rescued from a smuggler's suitcase in 2005 at Naples airport, southern Italy, by Italy's forestry police and were entrusted to Rome's main zoo. REUTERS/Tony Gentile (ITALY) --- Image by © TONY GENTILE/Reuters/Corbis 22 May 2007, Rome, Italy --- A worker from Rome's Biopark zoo holds a Testudo Kleinmanni hatchling, an endangered species also known as an Egyptian tortoise, in Rome May 22, 2007\. The offspring is the hatchling of several Egyptian tortoises that were rescued from a smuggler's suitcase in 2005 at Naples airport, southern Italy, by Italy's forestry police and were entrusted to Rome's main zoo. REUTERS/Tony Gentile (ITALY) --- Image by © TONY GENTILE/Reuters/Corbis© TONY GENTILE/Reuters/Corbis—© Corbis. All Rights Reserved. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) May 23, 2013 12:54 PM UTC Is there anything more harmless than a turtle? (Unless, I suppose, you’re a nice, leafy vegetable.) Turtles and tortoises—the main difference is that turtles dwell at least partially in water, while tortoises live exclusively on land—are slow-moving, peaceful animals whose main form of protection from the outside world is a hard shell. Not for nothing do we have the fable of the slow and steady tortoise winning the race. Turtles have existed in some form for more than 220 million years, outlasting their early contemporaries the dinosaurs. Long-lived turtles and tortoises are symbols of perseverance in the natural world. Unfortunately, the rules of the race are changing. Turtles and tortoises are among the world’s most endangered vertebrates, with about half their more than 300 species threatened with extinction. Only primates—human beings expected—are at greater risk of being wiped off the planet. The threats are many. The animals are collected by traders, eaten in the wild and in fine restaurants, used as pets or for traditional medicine, and sometimes simply killed. The very adaptations that once made them so successful—their long adult life span and delayed sexual maturity—has made them vulnerable as the world around them changed, mostly thanks to human beings. A 2011 [report](http://www.iucn-tftsg.org/wp-content/uploads/file/Top%2025/Top%5F25+%5FTurtles%5Fin%5FTrouble%5F2011.pdf) from the Turtle Conservation Coalition makes it clear: we need to act now if we’re to save the turtles and the tortoises: --- > “” --- As we mark World Turtle Day on May 23, spare a thought for these armored but endangered creatures. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219156/the-most-endangered-freshwater-turtles-and-tortoises/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7219156/the-most-endangered-freshwater-turtles-and-tortoises/"},"headline":"The Most Endangered Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises","datePublished":"2013-05-23T12:54:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T14:53:33.219Z","description":"Is there anything more harmless than a turtle? (Unless, I suppose, you're a nice, leafy vegetable.) 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