Turtle, terrapin or Tortoises ?

There are many old wives tales about the age of turtles and tortoises, one of which being that the age of a tortoise can be deducted by counting the number of concentric rings on its carapace, much like the cross-section of a tree. This is, of course, not true, since the growth of a tortoise depends highly on the access of food and water. A tortoise that has access to plenty of forage (or is regularly fed by its owner) will grow faster than a desert tortoise that goes days without eating.
Tortoises generally have lifespans comparable with those of human beings, and some individuals are known to have lived longer than 150 years. Because of this, they symbolize longevity in some cultures, such as China. The oldest tortoise ever recorded, indeed the oldest individual animal ever recorded, was Tui Malila , who was presented to the Tongan royal family by the British explorer Captain Cook shortly after its birth in 1777. Tui Malila remained in the care of the Tongan royal family until its death by natural causes on May 19 , 1965. This means that upon its death, Tui Malila was 188 years old .
My brother Richard found a Tortoises on the hill above our house in the 50's that had a date carved in the shell , the date was 1862. We wanted to keep it but daddy said if it had lived that long it deserved to live in peace.
When we moved on the farm Richard and me took a ax and tried to get one out of the shell, we thought if we opened the shell he would crawl out. Daddy whipped us for that stunt.