this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Science Memes

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top 32 comments
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[–] Armand1@lemmy.world 82 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's not certain this is true, but it's somewhat likely. At least, that's what I'm getting from the Wikipedia article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_(tortoise)

She was not kept as a pet by Darwin, but she may have been collected by him on a journey, then kept at a museum(?)

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 28 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Thank god he didn't eat her.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 64 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Sounds more like they were her pets.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago

It's so sad that she always outlives her pets

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 46 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Turtle: “I’ve got connections.”

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)
[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 days ago

Betsu ni nani mo nai deshita

[–] thatsTheCatch@lemmy.nz 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

All tortoises are turtles but not all turtles are tortoises

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So I just learned that’s true in America, but not particularly anywhere else (Australians actually go the other way and have “freshwater tortoises”). Explains a lot about the present situation.

[–] thatsTheCatch@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Australian tortoises aren't tortoises. Australian turtles are commonly mistaken for tortoises (as they sometimes come onto land) and so get incorrectly called that sometimes.

Where did you learn that that's only an American thing? I don't live in America. I'd be interested to learn more if you're right, but I can't find anything to support your claim

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I live in America and I haven't learned a damn thing!

[–] renzhexiangjiao@piefed.blahaj.zone 23 points 4 days ago (2 children)
[–] Sidhean@piefed.social 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah. Like women, turtles are property /s

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 7 points 4 days ago

Found Mickey7's alt

[–] Tikiporch@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

Pet Guardian'd isn't as easy to communicate, I guess.

[–] Juice@midwest.social 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

After Darwin owned the tortoise, it had to be sent away to animal prison. She was too much of a hard case

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It seems like a joke, but she really was cold-blooded.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I told my dog these jokes and she said, "that's scute."

[–] huf@hexbear.net 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And they're both dead now. Someone look into that turtle

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Steve died like two months after the turtle. This is a little too suspicious.

[–] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

I finally realized that Kristoff from Frozen reminds me of Steve Erwin. Like so much. So upset now that he doesn't have an aussie accent.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 5 points 4 days ago

That's a big tawdle

[–] umbraroze@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 days ago

Ancient shellmaster! Awww.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Tortoise. Turtles are aquatic and have flippers. Terrapins have webbed claws and are active on both land and water. Tortoise only live on land and they have feet with blunt nails.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago
[–] Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

If the order Testudines refers to turtles then all tortoises are turtles (though not all turtles are tortoises).

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

All squares are turtles. All circles are turtles. It's turtles all the way down.

[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

And it does seem to refer to that in English. Should it, though? Turtles in the narrow sense of sea turtles (Chelonioidea) are an inner branch of the whole Testudines tree, making tortoises unnecessarily paraphyletic (incomplete). It would be more logical to make tortoises the equivalent of Testudines and turtles the equivalent of Chelonioidea. Alas, English taxonomy is not always following the evolutionary logic.

[–] kubofhromoslav@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Just today I have again started to listen the book "Ageless" by Andrew Steele, which mentioned this tortoise at the very beginning. BTW, a great book about the real science how we can practically stop aging and dying from it.