Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

shell is made of bone. It is usually very

hard and strong. Most turtles can tuck

the head, legs, and tail inside the shell

for protection from enemies. Snapping

turtles cannot do this, but they have a

powerful bite for protection.

Turtles eat worms, snails, insects, jellyfish,

and shellfish. Many tortoises eat

only plants. Turtles can store food in the

form of fat. Some turtles can store water,

too. They can live for days or even weeks

without having anything to eat or drink.

All turtles lay their eggs on land. The

female digs a hole and lays her eggs in it.

The temperature in the nest usually

affects the sex of the baby turtles.

Warmer temperatures generally produce

females, while cooler temperatures produce

males.

Turtles live longer than most other animals.

Some species can live more than

100 years.

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Reptile

Tuscarora

The Tuscarora are Native Americans of

New York State and Ontario, Canada.

In the 1700s they became the sixth tribe

to join the group called the Iroquois

Confederacy.

The Tuscarora lived in round homes

made from poles covered with bark.

Later they also lived in homes called

longhouses, which were large enough for

A desert tortoise creeps among wildflowers

in the U.S. state of California.

A Tuscarora dancer performs at the New

York State Fair in Geddes, New York.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Tuscarora 117

 

several families. The Tuscarora grew

corn, gourds, beans, and apples. They

also hunted and gathered wild plants.

By the early 1700s British colonists had

moved into Tuscarora territory. At that

time the Tuscarora lived in North Carolina

and Virginia. The settlers mistreated

the tribe. They kidnapped Tuscarora

men, women, and children and sold

them as slaves. They also took the tribe’s

lands without payment.

The Tuscarora fought back in 1711 by

attacking several British settlements. The

attacks started a war. At least 1,000 Tuscarora

were killed in the fighting. The

Tuscarora who survived fled north to

New York. There, in 1722, they joined

the Iroquois Confederacy.

After the American Revolution (1775–

83) many Tuscarora moved to new lands

near Lewiston, New York. That area

later became the Tuscarora Reservation.

Some Tuscarora moved to lands along

the Grand River in what is now Ontario.

That area is now the Six Nations

Reserve. At the end of the 20th century

nearly 2,500 Tuscarora lived in the

United States. More than 1,900 others

lived in Canada.

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Iroquois • Native Americans

Tuskegee Airmen

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first

group of African Americans to fly warplanes

for the U.S. military. They served

duringWorldWar II. At that time, during

the 1940s, African Americans had

fewer rights than whites had. The Tuskegee

Airmen did their jobs as well as any

white pilots. After seeing how well the

airmen did, other African Americans

pushed harder for equal rights.

Before the United States enteredWorld

War II, the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP) asked the U.S. government to

allow African Americans to fly warplanes.

The military was then segregated,

or separated by race. Because of

this, the U.S. Army started a training

program for African Americans only.

The airmen got their training in Alabama

at the Tuskegee Army Air Field

and at an African American college

called Tuskegee Institute. The first

Tuskegee Airmen graduated in 1942.

Eventually 992 pilots graduated from

the training program.

Most of the

Tuscarora

were on the

side of the

colonists during

the

American

Revolution.

A poster from World War II

shows an African American

airman.

118 Tuskegee Airmen BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

The Tuskegee Airmen served in Europe

and North Africa. They flew small airplanes

that protected bigger airplanes

that dropped bombs on enemy targets.

The airmen never allowed an enemy

airplane to shoot down a U.S. bomber.

In 1948, three years afterWorldWar II

ended, President Harry S. Truman

ended racial segregation in the military.

After that African Americans served

alongside whites.

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African Americans • National

Association for the Advancement of

Colored People •WorldWar II

Tutankhamen

Tutankhamen was a pharaoh, or king, of

ancient Egypt in the 1300s BC. He

became pharaoh when he was still a

child. He is famous today because of the

many treasures found inside his tomb,

or grave.

Life

Tutankhamen married while very young.

His wife was the daughter of another

pharaoh named Akhenaton. Akhenaton

had tried to change the religion of

ancient Egypt. He wanted Egyptians to

have one god only, instead of many

gods. Tutankhamen brought back the

old religion with its many gods. He died

at about age 18.

Tomb and Treasures

Workers dug Tutankhamen’s tomb into

a hillside in southern Egypt. The place is

called the Valley of the Kings. (By Tutankhamen’s

time, Egyptians had

stopped burying pharaohs in pyramids.)

Thousands of years ago, robbers broke

into the tombs of other pharaohs in the

Valley of the Kings. They stole many

treasures from the tombs. The robbers

missed Tutankhamen’s tomb because

rubble from another tomb covered up

the entrance.

In 1922 Howard Carter, a British