Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The plastron is the nearly flat part of the shell structure of a turtle or tortoise, what one would call the belly, similar in composition to the carapace; with an external layer of horny material divided into plates called scutes and an underlying layer of interlocking bones. In certain families there is a hinge between the pectoral and abdominal scutes allowing the turtle to almost completely enclose itself. In certain species the sex of a testudine can be told by whether the plastron is concave, male or convex, female. This is because of the mating position. The plastral scutes join along a central seam down the middle of the plastron. The relative lengths of the seam segments can be used to help identify a species of turtle or tortoise. There are six laterally symmetric pairs of scutes on the plastron: gular, humeral, pectoral, abdominal, femoral, and anal (going from the head to the tail down the seam). ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: What the Tortoise Said to Achilles, Cultural Depictions of Turtles and Tortoises, Bixi, the Tortoise and the Hare, Esio Trot, List of Fictional Turtles, Elvis, Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 53. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Turtles and tortoises are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures, snapping turtles aside. 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. As a result of its role as a slow, peaceful creature in culture, the turtle can be misconceived as a sedentary animal; however, many types of turtle, especially sea turtles, frequently migrate over large distances in oceans. A bas-relief from Angkor Wat, Cambodia, shows Samudra manthan-Vishnu in the center and his turtle avatar Kurma belowTortoise is the symbol of wisdom, and isable to defend itself on its own. It personifies Water, Moon, Mother-Earth, Time, Immortality and Fertility. The starting of creation is associated with the tortoise and it is also believed that the tortoise bears the burden of the whole world. The turtle has a prominent position as a symbol of steadfastness and tranquility in religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world. A tortoises longevity is suggested by its long lifespan and its shell, which was though...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=13297696 ... Read more