Cultural depictions of turtles Adventures in Wonderland". In the illustration by John Tenniel, the Mock Turtle is depicted as a turtle with the head, hooves, and tail of a calf; referencing the real ingredients of mock turtle soup. In the children's story, "Esio Trot" by Roald Dahl, a character named Mrs. Silver has a small pet tortoise, Alfie, who she loves very much. One morning, Mrs. Silver mentions to Mr. Hoppy that even though she has had Alfie for many years, her pet has only grown a tiny bit and has gained only 3 ounces in weight. She confesses that she wishes she knew
Chinese softshell turtle lesser Chinese softshell turtle ("P. parviformis") and Hunan softshell turtle ("P. axenaria"). The Chinese softshell turtle is a vulnerable species, threatened by habitat loss and collection for food such as turtle soup. Millions are now farmed, especially in China, to support the food industry, and it is the world's economically most important turtle. Females of the Chinese softshell turtle can reach up to in carapace length, while the smaller males reach , but however have longer tails than the females. Maturity is reached at a carapace length of . It has webbed feet for swimming. They are called "softshell" because