Editing Turtle (section)

==Human uses ==
===On space flights===
Two tortoises were on the Soviet Union's September 1968 [[Zond 5]] [[Circumlunar trajectory|circumlunar flight]], making them the first earthly living things to travel to the vicinity of the Moon. Turtles were also on the [[Zond 6]] (1968) and the [[Zond 7]] (1969) circumlunar flights.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/09/18/zond-5-soviet-tortises-around-the-moon/|title=The First Earthlings Around the Moon Were Two Soviet Tortoises|last=Betz|first=Eric|date=18 September 2018|work=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|access-date=14 July 2019|archive-date=28 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928192410/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/09/18/zond-5-soviet-tortises-around-the-moon/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf|title=Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016|last1=Siddiqi|first1=Asif|publisher=NASA History Program Office|edition=second|year=2018}}</ref>

=== In culture ===
{{main article|Cultural depictions of turtles}}
{{further|World Turtle<!--|List of fictional turtles-->}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="155">
File:Kurmavatara (tortoise incarnation of Vishnu), from Garhwa, Allahabad District.jpg|alt=Photograph of temple sculpture in India|4th-century sculpture of [[Kurma|turtle avatar]] of [[Vishnu]]. [[Garhwa|Garhwa, India]]
File:PSM V10 D562 The hindoo earth.jpg|alt=Lithograph drawing of world resting on 4 elephants standing on a giant turtle|World resting on four elephants on the back of the [[World Turtle]]. Western depiction of "The Hindu Earth", 1877
File:Kangxi-Lugou-rebuilding-stele-3581.jpg|alt=Chinese funeral stone held up by a stone tortoise|[[Bixi (tortoise)|Bixi]] supporting [[Kangxi Emperor]]'s [[stele]], [[Beijing]], 1698
File:Alice par John Tenniel 34.png|alt=Children's book illustration with turtle figure standing on hind legs|The [[Mock Turtle]] in [[Lewis Carroll]]'s 1865 ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''
File:The Turtle 1898 Manhattan Theatre poster.jpg|alt=Painting of a turtle standing on hind legs, with top hat and cane, on theatre poster|Poster for 1898 production of ''The Turtle'' at the Manhattan Theatre, Broadway
File:Terrapin Shell Leg Rattles Worn by Lead Woman Dancer, Oconaluftee Village, NC. - NARA - 281630.jpg|alt=Photograph of cloth with four terrapin shell rattles to be tied around a dancer's leg|Terrapin shell leg rattles worn by lead [[Cherokee]] woman dancer, 20th century
</gallery>

Turtles have featured in human cultures across the world since ancient times. They are generally viewed positively despite not being "cuddly" or flashy; their association with the ancient times and old age have contributed to their endearing image.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=9–10}}

In [[Hindu mythology]], the [[World Turtle]], named [[Kurma|Kurma or Kacchapa]], supports four elephants on his back; they, in turn, carry the weight of the whole world on their backs.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=63–68}}<ref name="WWF">{{cite web |last1=McLellan |first1=Liz |last2=Nickson |first2=Amanda |last3=Benn |first3=Jo |title=Marine turtle conservation in the Asia Pacific region |publisher=WWF |date=June 2005 |url=https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/marine_turtles_ap.pdf |access-date=July 22, 2021 |archive-date=July 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724105248/https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/marine_turtles_ap.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The turtle is one of the ten [[avatar]]s or incarnations of the god [[Vishnu]].{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=63–68}} The [[yoga]] pose Kurmasana is named for the avatar.<ref name="Mallinson 2011">{{cite journal |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |title=A Response to Mark Singleton's ''Yoga Body'' by James Mallinson |url=https://www.academia.edu/1146607 |access-date=4 January 2019 |date=9 December 2011 |website=Academia |archive-date=July 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724105251/https://www.academia.edu/1146607 |url-status=live }} revised from American Academy of Religions conference, San Francisco, 19 November 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Iyengar |first=Bellur K. S. |author-link=B. K. S. Iyengar |year=1979 |orig-year=1966 |title=[[Light on Yoga|Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika]] |publisher=Thorsons |isbn=978-1-85538-166-7 |pages=288–291}}</ref> World Turtles are found in Native American cultures including the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]], [[Iroquois]], and [[Lenape]]. They tell many versions of the [[creation story]] of [[Turtle Island (Native American folklore)|Turtle Island]]. One version has Muskrat pile up earth on Turtle's back, creating the continent of North America. An [[Iroquois]] version has the pregnant [[Sky Woman]] fall through a hole in the sky between a tree's roots, where she is caught by birds who land her safely on Turtle's back; the Earth grows around her. The turtle here is altruistic, but the world is a heavy burden, and the turtle sometimes shakes itself to relieve the load, causing earthquakes.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=63–68}}<ref name="Converse1908">{{cite book |last1=Converse |first1=Harriet Maxwell |author1-link=Harriet Maxwell Converse |last2=Parker |first2=Arthur Caswell |author2-link=Arthur Caswell Parker |title=Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6y6uxjhf60C&pg=PA33 |year=1908 |publisher=University of the State of New York |page=33 |access-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522092758/https://books.google.com/books?id=S6y6uxjhf60C&pg=PA33 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Canadian Encyclopedia">{{cite web |last=Filice |first=Michelle |title=Turtle Island |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/turtle-island |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=May 22, 2021 |date=November 6, 2018 |archive-date=May 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520010504/https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/turtle-island |url-status=live }}</ref>

A turtle was the symbol of the Ancient Mesopotamian god [[Enki]] from the 3rd millennium BCE onward.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=44–48}} An ancient Greek [[origin myth]] told that only the tortoise refused the invitation of the gods [[Zeus]] and [[Hera]] to their wedding, as it preferred to stay at home. Zeus then ordered it to carry its house with it, ever after.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|p=56}} Another of their gods, [[Hermes]], invented a seven-stringed [[chelys|lyre]] made with the shell of a tortoise.<ref>{{Cite web |last2=Evelyn-White |first2=Hugh G. |title=Hymn 4 to Hermes |last1=Anonymous |publisher=Harvard University Press |at=Lines 26–65 |year=1914 |publication-place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=4 |access-date=May 11, 2021 |archive-date=May 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511094022/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=4 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the [[Shang dynasty]] [[China|Chinese]] practice of [[plastromancy]], dating back to 1200 BCE, oracles were obtained by inscribing questions on turtle plastrons using the [[Oracle bone script|oldest known form of Chinese characters]], burning the plastron, and interpreting the resulting cracks. Later, the turtle was one of the [[Four Symbols|four sacred animals]] <!--along with the Phoenix, Qulin, and Dragon--> in [[Confucianism]], while in the [[Han period]], [[stele]]s were mounted on top of stone turtles, later linked with [[Bixi]], the turtle-shelled son of the Dragon King.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=49–52}} Marine turtles feature significantly in [[Australian Aboriginal]] art.<ref name="WWF"/> The army of [[Ancient Rome]] used the {{lang|la|testudo}} [[Testudo formation|("tortoise") formation]] where soldiers would form a [[shield wall]] for protection.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|p=107}}

In [[Aesop's Fables]], "[[The Tortoise and the Hare]]" tells how an unequal race may be won by the slower partner.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Tortoise and the Hare |website=Aesopica: Aesop's Fables in English, Latin, and Greek |url=http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/perry/226.htm |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-date=August 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816021223/http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/perry/226.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Pryke|2021|p=139}} [[Lewis Carroll]]'s 1865 ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' features a [[Mock Turtle]], named for [[Mock turtle soup|a soup meant to imitate]] the expensive soup made from real turtle meat.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Lewis |title=Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |chapter=The Mock-Turtle's Story |date=1901 |orig-year=1865 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |page=128 |oclc=1049742993}}</ref>{{sfn|Pryke|2021|page=135}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mock+turtle+soup |title=Mock Turtle Soup |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=December 22, 2020 |archive-date=October 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020034920/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mock+turtle+soup |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1896, the French playwright [[Léon Gandillot]] wrote a comedy in three acts named {{lang|fr|La Tortue}} that was "a Parisian sensation"<ref name="Brooklyn Life 1899">{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Brooklyn Life [Theater] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/83148023/ |access-date=22 May 2021 |work=Brooklyn Life |date=April 1, 1899 |page=31 |quote=it is primarily a very amusing farce. The plot is slight, and concerns chiefly the proverbial fickle-mindedness of woman. |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522075832/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/83148023/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in its run in France, and came to the [[Manhattan Theatre]], Broadway, New York, in 1898 as ''The Turtle''.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|p=137}} A "cosmic turtle" and the island motif reappear in [[Gary Snyder]]'s 1974 novel ''[[Turtle Island (book)|Turtle Island]]'', and again in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' series as Great A'Tuin, starting with the 1983 novel ''[[The Colour of Magic]]''. It is supposedly of the species ''Chelys galactica'', the galactic turtle, complete with four elephants on its back to support Discworld.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=118–120}} A giant fire-breathing turtle called [[Gamera]] is the star of a series of Japanese monster movies in the ''[[kaiju]]'' genre and has had twelve films from 1965 to 2006.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=146–148}} Turtles have been featured in comic books and animations such as the 1984 [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Harvey R. |title=Just How Powerful Are Those Turtles? |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 15, 1990 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/15/movies/just-how-powerful-are-those-turtles.html?scp=8&sq=ninja%20turtles&st=cse |access-date=May 11, 2021 |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612182757/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/15/movies/just-how-powerful-are-those-turtles.html?scp=8&sq=ninja%20turtles&st=cse |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=148–151}}

=== As pets===

Some turtles, particularly small terrestrial and freshwater species, are kept as [[pet]]s.<ref name="Reid 2017"/>{{sfn|Pryke|2021|p=181}}  The demand for pet turtles increased in the 1950s, with the US being the main supplier, particularly of farm-bred red-eared sliders. The popularity for exotic pets has led to an increase in illegal [[Wildlife trade|wildlife trafficking]]. Around 21% of the value of live animal trade is in reptiles, and turtles are among the more popularly traded species.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=181–183}} Poor husbandry of tortoises can cause chronic [[rhinitis]] (nasal swelling), overgrown beaks, [[hyperparathyroidism]] (which softens their skeleton), [[constipation]], various reproductive problems, and injuries from dogs.<ref name="Reid 2017">{{Cite journal |last=Reid |first=Siuna A. |title=Current Trends in the Husbandry and Veterinary Care of Tortoises |url=http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/sites/default/files/u8/v8n4Reid.pdf |journal=Testudo |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=58–68 |year=2017 |access-date=July 31, 2019 |archive-date=July 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731152314/http://www.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk/sites/default/files/u8/v8n4Reid.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In the early 20th century, people in the United States have organized and gambled on [[Turtle racing|turtle races]].{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=120–122}}

=== As food and other uses===

The flesh of captured wild turtles continues to be eaten in Asian cultures,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barzyk |first=James E. |date=November 1999 |title=Turtles in Crisis: The Asian Food Markets |publisher=Tortoise Trust |url=http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/asia.html |access-date=November 1, 2012 |archive-date=February 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222091358/http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/asia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> while [[turtle soup]] was once a popular dish in [[English cuisine]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Clarkson |first=Janet |title=Soup : a global history|date=2010 |publisher=Reaktion |isbn=978-1-86189-774-9 |page=115 |oclc=642290114}}</ref> Gopher tortoise stew has been popular with some groups in Florida.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Recipes from Another Time |date=October 2001 |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/recipes-from-another-time-52824959/?all |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |access-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-date=August 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819163959/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/recipes-from-another-time-52824959/?all |url-status=live }}</ref> The supposed aphrodisiac or medicinal properties of turtle eggs created a large trade for them in Southeast Asia.<ref name="WWF"/> Hard-shell turtle plastrons and soft-shell carapaces are widely used in [[traditional Chinese medicine]]; [[Taiwan]] imported nearly 200 metric tons of hard-shells from its neighbors yearly from 1999 to 2008.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Tien-Hsi |year=2009 |last2=Chang |first2=H.-C. |last3=Lue |first3=Kuang-Yang |title=Unregulated Trade in Turtle Shells for Chinese Traditional Medicine in East and Southeast Asia: the Case of Taiwan |journal=Chelonian Conservation and Biology |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=11–18 |doi=10.2744/CCB-0747.1 |s2cid=86821249 }}</ref> A popular medicinal preparation based on herbs and turtle shells is ''[[guilinggao]]'' jelly.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Huan |last2=Wu |first2=Min-Yi |last3=Guo |first3=De-Jian |display-authors=etal |title=Gui-ling-gao (turtle jelly), a traditional Chinese functional food, exerts anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting iNOS and pro-inflammatory cytokine expressions in splenocytes isolated from BALB/c mice |journal=Journal of Functional Foods |year=2013 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=625–632 |doi=10.1016/j.jff.2013.01.004 |hdl=10397/16357 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> The substance [[tortoiseshell]], usually from the hawksbill turtle, has been used for centuries to make jewelry, tools, and ornaments around the Western Pacific.<ref name="WWF"/> Hawksbills have accordingly been hunted for their shells.<ref name="Cox 2018">{{cite news |last1=Cox |first1=Lisa |title=Hawksbill Turtle Poaching to be Fought with DNA Technology |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/13/hawksbill-turtle-poaching-to-be-fought-with-dna-technology |access-date=7 August 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=November 12, 2018 |quote=Hawksbills are the only sea turtles hunted for their shells, despite international trade in hawksbill products being banned more than 20 years ago.}}</ref> The trading of tortoiseshell was internationally banned in 1977 by CITES.<ref>{{cite web |title=Global Status of the Hawksbill Sea Turtle: The Tortoiseshell Trade |publisher=Sea Turtle Conservancy |date=2007 |url=https://www.conserveturtles.org/11503-2/}}</ref> Some cultures have used turtle shells to make music: Native American [[shaman]]s made them into ceremonial rattles, while [[Aztec]]s, [[Maya civilization|Maya]]s, and [[Mixtec]]s made ''{{lang|az|ayotl}}'' drums.{{sfn|Pryke|2021|pp=58–60}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="155px">
File:StateLibQld 2 395489 Catching turtles, wood engraving, 1875.jpg|Catching turtles in Australia, 1875|alt=Historic engraving of men catching turtles on a beach
File:TurtleSeafood.jpg|Turtles on sale as food in Canada, 2007|alt=photo of turtles on sale as food in a shop
File:Turtle plastrons as TCM in Xi'an market.jpg|Turtle plastrons for traditional Chinese medicine|alt=Photograph of a box of turtle plastrons in a market
File:Peigne en écaille.jpg|A tortoiseshell comb; the material was expensive and decorative, and widely used for small items.<ref name="Strieker 2001">{{cite web |last=Strieker |first=Gary |title=Tortoiseshell Ban Threatens Japanese Tradition |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/04/10/japan.turtles/ |publisher=CNN |access-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215162652/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/04/10/japan.turtles/ |archive-date=December 15, 2006 |date=April 10, 2001}}</ref>|alt=Photograph of a decoratively ridged comb made of tortoiseshell
File:Sheldonbasking.JPG|A pet red-eared slider basking on a floating platform under a sun lamp|alt=Photograph of a pet turtle in a terrarium
File:Prohibited from capturing and consuming tutles, Bluefields, Nicaragua.jpg|A notice in [[Bluefields]], [[Nicaragua]] in 2023 indicating that the capturing and consuming of turtles is prohibited
</gallery>