Meet the reptiles
You can always tell a turtle by its shell. A box turtle has a high,
round shell that it can close up like a box. A map turtle has a wide,
flat shell with bumpy edges. A soft-shelled turtle’s shell looks like a
green pancake. Most turtles can pull their heads, legs, and tails into
their shells at the first sign of danger.
You can always tell a snake by its shape. Whether it’s a little ringneck
snake 15 inches (38 centimeters) long, or a big 30-foot (9-meter)
anaconda, every snake is long, round, and legless.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a lizard and what isn’t. Some lizards
look like snakes and some look like worms and some lizards look like
baby alligators. But there’s one way to tell geckos, skinks, and some
other lizards. If an animal grabs one of these lizards by the tail—the
tail comes off and the lizard runs away. It doesn’t hurt these lizards
to lose their tails. And they soon grow new ones.
Alligators and crocodiles, the biggest reptile, look very much alike.
But an alligator has fatter, shorter jaws, and it is smaller.
