Intelligence is surely one of the best measures to verify whether an animal is smart enough to understand what is going on around it. Since turtles as pets gained in popularity in recent years, a lot of people wonder whether turtles have brains and how intelligent they are – if at all. Well, the good news is that today, in this article, I will try to show all the legitimate proof that turtles are really smart. Obviously, all things considered.
A lot of research has proved that turtles are indeed quite intelligent creatures. They have brains and, to make things even more interesting, some species have larger brains that are much more capable than the brain of other representatives of these reptiles. But how smart turtles really are? Is it the level of a dog? Or maybe another animal?
People wish to train animals that they take as pets no matter what species they choose. And that’s a completely understandable thing, because no one wants to settle with an animal that is unable to understand the fact or figure out who the owner is and what intentions we have. In today’s article I will try to answer some of the questions as far as the turtles and their intelligence is concerned, including the size of the turtle’s brains, the possibility of training it, recognizing its owner, and many other relatable things.
But first, can we say that turtles are smart animals?
The interesting thing about turtles is the fact that even 250 million years ago the turtles were quite similar to what we see today. It was all due to the fact that ancient turtle fossils helped us understand how crucial the shell was in preventing the mass extinction of the entire species. But what about the brains? Did they evolve at all? Were they the reason why the species survived so long?
Well, if we take into account a research study conducted some time ago, then the oldest turtle fossils indicate that the brain structure of past turtles differed from what turtles have inside their skull today. It had a lot of undeveloped senses. Now, brains are much bigger and there is a bit more complexity to it. Interestingly, researchers also noticed different anatomical shapes that indicated a wide range of needs of their senses thanks to which it was possible to survive in the environment they chose. The same evolution can also be seen in the brains of birds and a lot of mammal species.
Turtles are definitely a lot smarter than most people think. Did you know that thanks to instinctual intelligence that they possess, they are capable of learning from previous experiences and adapt thanks to which they are better in scavenging for food or watching out for predators? As a result, they are becoming better and better as the time goes by and they get to know more things about the world that surrounds them.
Is it possible to train turtles?
Since we know that turtles have brains and can learn a thing or two about the environment they live in, let’s see if it is possible to train a turtle – at least to some extent. Well, the short answer is yes, you can train your turtle. Obviously, it is not going to fetch or do tricks like, for example, a dog. Still, we can use similar techniques and thanks to incentive in the form of treat ease the learning process.
Another thing to remember as far as teaching turtles is concerned, is the fact that their brain has a very small portion of the brain responsible for learning – the so-called cerebral hemispheres. As a result, the number of things and the difficulty or advancement of the trick will definitely be very limited. Still, turtles can train themselves quite efficiently. You see, they can use their internal clock and train in order to know when the feeding time comes. As a result, it is possible to regulate their body processes. This, in turn, has a positive impact on the health condition of the turtle.
Will my turtle recognize me?
Their brain allows for human recognition. Therefore, if you keep feeding a turtle and appear near its tank quite frequently without any other humans around, sooner or later your pet will treat you as a food source and, therefore, it will always be happy when you come. Because of that, you can be more than certain that the turtle will always recognize you – simply due to the mechanisms mentioned above – the fact that it will interpret your presence as the feeding time.
Turtles’ brains are a bit more advanced as far as human recognition is concerned. You see, it is possible for them to differentiate specific characteristic features of humans and, because of that, you can hope that your turtle won’t mistake you with another human – as long as there are many different characteristics.
What about their memory? How good is it?
As I mentioned earlier, turtles’ brains allow them to learn a thing or two from their past in order to do better in the future. Obviously, in most cases these things are connected with their survival and instinct, and as a result they are not going to learn or memorize things that we teach them too carefully. However, if there is an experience worth remembering, they will do that in order to use that experience in the future.
Are turtles able to feel?
Emotions are surely quite complex psychological states that heavily influence the way people and many other animals behave. No wonder that people wonder if their reptiles have feelings. Well, their brains surely allow them to have feelings of some kind. In fact, they possess a spectrum of different emotions. Nonetheless, they are not as advanced as humans. In most cases they focus on things related to survival. So, for example, they can be agitated or frustrated if they do not find food in a long time.
Besides that, turtles are quite often stressed out – it mainly concerns the ones that are kept in captivity – specifically in an overcrowded place or where there is a lot of noise. Besides that, they are also quite fearful animals, so you can see that most of the time, when a bigger animal approaches them, they will hide into their shell or, on the contrary, they will attack a potential threat – as it is with snapping turtles.
How does the breed of a turtle influence its intelligence?
People usually think that all turtles are the same in terms of their behavior, look, and basic things such as their natural habitat, the things they like to eat and how they behave. Well, the statement is nothing further from the truth. You see, there are some subspecies of turtles that are more intelligent than the others. Obviously, all the common turtles possess instinctual and learned intelligence to some extent.
However, there are some examples of a bit higher intelligence when compared to others, and it concerns North American wood turtles. The scientists have been taking a closer look at some of the representatives of that breed and learned that in many situations they were capable of locating the right direction as far as searching for food is concerned. Besides that, there have been many other tests that determined their increased intelligence when compared to other turtle species.
Now you know if turtles are smart!
For a reptile, turtles are definitely smart creatures. Their brain evolved significantly when compared to other parts of their body, e.g. their shell. As a result, they can use their more advanced brain structure to learn from the previous experience and be prepared for the upcoming events a bit better. This, in turn, helps them become a better forager, a better partner, or even a better partner.
Obviously, their brains are fairly limited when compared to other animals that are considered smart. Still, they can learn a thing or two and associate with some people, especially when the food is “on plate’. As a result of that, we should never believe that a turtle is stupid. For survival purposes, it is smart enough and, sometimes, even their owners may be surprised with a thing or two.
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