Seventy-six tortoises were used in the making of this movie.
Dustin Hoffman often becomes very warm on-set and prefers to have air conditioning, but it couldn't be used on the set of this movie because tortoises won't act if they get too cold.
Mr. Pringle (Richard Cordery) is an original character created for this movie, as are the narrator's family members and the acknowledgement of the narrator himself.
"Esio Trot" is "tortoise" spelled backwards.