Book Review: Turtles of the World

<p dir="ltr">Turtles are perhaps the reptiles with the best public image. People love marine turtles, and all species are instantly recognizable due to their distinctive carapace, which comes in a myriad of shapes, sizes, and colours. They are adapted to many environments including oceans, lakes, forests and deserts. I am sure that if you are of a similar age to myself, you may remember the cultural phenomenon that surrounded four of these crime-fighting animals named after four of the Renaissance greats. However, based almost entirely on the geography of where I grew up, my experience with turtles is quite limited. Unfortunately, we have no native species in the United Kingdom (except the occasional vagrant marine turtle), although I do have some experience with introduced sliders which were once a popular pet – due to the aforementioned ninjas. There are currently more than 350 species known to science and so I was looking for a book to act as a quick guide to species that I have clearly overlooked. I therefore picked up a copy of Turtles of the World: A Guide to Every Family to help fill in some of those large gaps in my knowledge, hoping the information would be in an accessible and user-friendly format.</p>