While pyramids, temples and cities have risen and fallen, while dinosaurs have ruled and been swept away and atomic bombs have shaken the earth, turtles have gone right on eating, swimming and lumbering about making baby turtles. You may have difficulty distinguishing between a salamander and a newt, or between a frog and a toad, but everyone knows a turtle on sight. If you have never really looked into the subject, though, chances are you are not aware of the amazing variety of these beasts we call turtles. They show up all over the globe, inhabiting the oceans, deserts, ponds, lakes and streams. They crawl through the litter of warm forests everywhere and burrow in the tepid mud beneath bogs you never even knew were there. Not only that, but their grasp on life is uncommonly tight. I have seen turtles with their shells cracked and organs hanging out from an encounter with a tire stepping friskily along and sniffing out berries. I have seen giants with shells worn so smooth they have doubtless seen a hundred summers more than I. There is nothing quite like the turtle.
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