People believed for a very long time that turtles couldn’t genuinely speak with one another. But with time and extensive research, we’ve discovered that this couldn’t be more false.
We list all we are aware of and what we are currently attempting to understand.
Verbal Sea Turtle Sounds
Scientists once believed that sea turtles couldn’t communicate by sound because they lack vocal chords or external ears. But scientists have disproven those hypotheses in recent years.
Turtles use sounds both on land and in the water to verbally communicate. These sounds are used by the animals not only to communicate with one another but also to induce the laying of eggs.
This is significant because sea turtles like for all of their eggs to hatch at roughly the same time because it increases their likelihood of overall survival. The more hazards there are to sea turtles when they first hatch, the better the chance that some of them will survive.
They produce sounds that are incredibly low on the hearing range, making it difficult for people to hear them. They also don’t talk that much. In fact, they only produce a noise like this once every 30 minutes or so.
Turtles make a variety of sounds in addition to those. Over 300 different sounds are produced by sea turtles, and each one is associated with a certain activity.
Given this, there is no reason to doubt that other sea turtles who are listening in may infer what is happening only from the sounds.
How Sea Turtles Listen to Each Other
But without external ears, how do sea turtles communicate with one another? Even if they had internal ears, it would be difficult for humans to hear these sounds because we have greater hearing than turtles.
In reality, science is still trying to figure this out, but there are two things we can be certain of. The first is that sounds in the lower end of the audible spectrum have a tendency to produce deep vibrations, and turtles are known to be vibration-sensitive.
Second, certain sea turtles are capable of hearing the low-frequency noises that they exchange with one another. There is little doubt that they have discovered a method, even though it is unclear exactly how they accomplish this.
Other Sea Turtle Communication Methods
Although they do so seldom, sea turtles use noises to communicate with one another. Sea turtles, on the other hand, have perfected the art of nonverbal communication. They accomplish this through touching, hissing, winking, biting, squirting water, and touching.
Although they can employ other techniques as well, touching is mainly used during courtship. Head bobbing is one of the most common courtship behaviors among turtles. To signal their intention to mate, males bob their heads up and down near females.
Although they are also capable of hissing, sea turtles often bite to let people know they wish to be left alone.
Turtles do tend to hiss more when threatened, not merely when they want a bothersome cousin to leave them alone.
How Turtles Communicate with Humans
If you’ve ever owned a turtle, you’re aware that they can talk to you. When they are really stressed, they withdraw into their shell. They not only tuck their heads in, but also their legs and tails.
A turtle becomes less anxious the more you observe them. Being highly inquisitive animals, turtles will inspect objects once they feel secure and at ease.
Understanding how your turtle expresses different emotions is essential to comprehending what it is trying to tell you. To turtles, it makes complete sense even though to humans it could appear strange.
Be aware that both tortoises and sea turtles are solitary by nature, however tortoises can occasionally be a little more gregarious than sea turtles. Even though each turtle will have a unique personality, you must allow them plenty of time to become used to their new environment.
Keeping everything in its original location is also necessary. If not, your turtle or tortoise might believe they are in a brand-new habitat!
Final Thoughts
There is no question that turtles have spent ages perfecting their linguistic and non-verbal communication abilities, and humans are just now beginning to learn some of their tricks.
It could take some time to figure things out, but the more we learn about these extraordinary and fascinating creatures, the more questions we find ourselves with.
