Herps in Society and Culture: Turtles

            Turtles have always been one of my favorite creatures. Largely due to the fact I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were smart, easygoing, and sturdy, which are all very common attributes to turtles. One of the first stories we hear about of turtles in our culture is the fable of the tortoise and the hare. How slow and steady wins the race, once again showing off the wisdom in turtles. In other cultures turtles are treated in the same regard. In Africa turtles are considered the most wisest and clever of all animals. For example there is an African fairy tale where a turtle claimed to be as strong as an elephant and challenged it to a tug of war. He then went to a hippopotamus and claimed he was stronger than him and also challenged him. He then had the two play tug of war against each other while they each thought he was on the other end. So after the game they each had to admit the turtle was strong. The moral of that story was to not take a wager from a person you can't trust because he'll take credit for your work. Turtle have also been involved in many cultures around the world. Turtles are known for their longevity in many other cultures such as Japan because they tend to have a long life. It is also quite common for them to be in creation stores like in China and some Native American cultures. The turtle is even associated with the god Ea from Mesopotamia one of the first human civilization. In today’s culture the most recent turtles I can think of are Oogway from Kung Fu Panda and Crush from finding Memo.  Oogway was a very wise martial artist that gave Po advice in his time of need and Crush was portrayed as an easygoing surfer.