Turtles and tortoises in Kenya

A turtle at Snake Park in Nairobi is an American Red-Eared Turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans). It is a medium-sized black turtle (terrapin) likes still waters, such as lakes or ponds with lots of vegetation nearby. The shell is slightly domed. The American Red-Eared Turtle is omnivorous, which means that it eats everything, from plants to meat. Because it lives in water, it has flippers, and not stumpy legs like the land tortoises.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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