I am a little upset that this is the last cartoon Wild Fact. It was a ton of fun finding out the type of animals some of my favourite childhood cartoon characters were based off of. We are going to end this weeks very special edition of Cartoon Wild Facts with one of my personal favourite characters. Actually, it is four cartoon characters that go by the name of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and of course Michelangelo. Yep, we are headed to the sewers of New York to learn more about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Before they were transformed into crime fighting, pizza eating heroes in a half-shell they were baby Red-Eared Sliders.

The Red-Eared Slider is a semi-aquatic turtle that was originally from the Southern United States, however, they can be found anywhere since they make great pets. Perhaps this is why Splinter wanted to hang onto them – they were just his pets.  As you can imagine they get their name from the obvious red mark around their ears.  Don’t even bother going back to the TMNT cartoon to see if you can spot it since their ears are covered up by their coloured bandannas.  Oh yeah, and the slider part is simply because they can easily and quickly slide off the rocks and logs to get back into the water (or sewer).

The Red-Eared Slider does have some traits that would help them become crime fighting ninja’s.  The real life version of the Red-Eared Slider is deceptively fast and an awesome swimmer.  Granted they don’t know how to use nunchucks but they can still use these two features to catch their prey.   So what do they use their ninja like skills to catch?  Well, other than pepperoni and anchovy pizza they feed on snails, crickets, worms, tadpoles, fish, crayfish and of course a nice healthy dose of aquatic vegetation.

Red-Eared Slider Fast Fact – A common misconception about this specific turtle is that they don’t have saliva.  Well they do but the Red-Eared Slider also has a fixed tongue and as a result can only eat in the water.

TMNT  Fast Fact – As you may have guessed the Ninja Turtles were all named after Renaissance men.  The leader of the group was named after Leonardo da Vinci, while the fun-loving comic relief Michelangelo was named after Michelangelo Buonoratti.  The other two turtles were named after the famous artist and sculptor Donatello and the very talented painter and architect Raffaelo Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael.   One last side note – in real life, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael formed the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.  They also kicked the snot out of Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady!

Unfortunately that is the last cartoon Wild Fact.  Perhaps we will start this up again in the future since it was a lot of fun.  Have a great weekend everyone.  Before I go I wanted to provide you with a YouTube link to the Ninja Turtles Opening Theme.  Unfortunately, I was unable to embed the video into the post.  Definitely check out the link though for some late 80’s memories.  Here is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHVOHsN3T0