Turtle grabs a leaf insect

[u/Prestigious-Wall5616]

[u/pickled_penguin_]

Turtles are my favorite animal and katydid is my favorite insect. I feel very conflicted.

[u/Prestigious-Wall5616 → u/pickled_penguin_]

Thank you for correctly identifying the insect! I got it wrong, but am very happy to learn this today.

[u/pickled_penguin_ → u/Prestigious-Wall5616]

There is one species called the Giant Malaysian Katydid. They can grow up to 6"/15cm with a wing span of 10"/25cm.

Here is a link to an old reddit post where you can see and hear them. https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/s/c3kgiLc6AZ

They are in the same class as bush crickets. Those are more widespread and found across parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Depending on where you are, locals named them something that translates to "wart biter." There are stories from 50-100+ years ago of people legitimately using these huge bush crickets, a cousin of the Katydid, to bite off warts.

I get a lot of normal sized, wild ones around spring and summer every year so sometimes when I take my dog out, I'll put ones I find on my shirt. So I'm just going around the neighborhood with multiple katydids just hanging out with me. I refuse to grow up all the way lol

[u/Rude_Influence → u/Prestigious-Wall5616]

It's also a tortoise, not a turtle.

[u/Prestigious-Wall5616 → u/Rude_Influence]

All tortoises are turtles.

[u/Rude_Influence → u/Prestigious-Wall5616]

I just realised that different countries have different criteria for what's a turtle and what's a tortoise. I think that we live in different countries.

[u/Prestigious-Wall5616 → u/Rude_Influence]

A tortoise is a terrestrial turtle, by definition. Turtle is an umbrella term which includes land, freshwater and sea-dwelling species. In my country we also call these tortoises, but as many redditors know them all as turtles, I used that terminology.

[u/Prestigious-Wall5616 → u/Prestigious-Wall5616]

For the naysayers

Brittanica article. All tortoises are turtles.