Being in the wilderness, turtles have to rely on their senses in order to catch prey and, of course, sense and protect themselves from predators. Most often they use eyes due to their sharp sight and smell. Obviously, they also have the sense of taste and touch, which to be honest, are very well developed just as well. Nonetheless, they also possess a sense of hearing. Yes, turtles can hear and even if it isn’t as advanced as in the case of human beings or other animals, it is still quite an important aspect of their survival.
But how can turtles hear? What do we mean that they hear? Is it possible for them to listen to music? Or understand things that we say to them? Well, it is a bit more complicated than that. That is why in this article I will briefly describe their sense of hearing, present their ears because yes, they have ears, and talk about hearing on land, underwater, as well as many other aspects that people may find interesting to read.
Do turtles have ears?
Let’s start from the obvious statement, which is that the turtles can hear because they have ears. Yes, that is right. However, it is something different than what we imagine. You see, they do not have pointy ears. What is more, they do not distinguish from the rest of the body. On the contrary, they are very difficult to locate. It is mainly because turtles’ ears are better suited for hearing underwater, which I will discuss later in this article.
The ears that turtles have are known as internal ears. There are several parts of that organ, but the most important ones are the inner ear and the middle ear. What is more, there are special flaps of skin on the outside of the turtle’s ears. These flaps serve as a capturing device for sound waves. Sadly, the lack of external ears mean that they are unable to hear a range of different sounds. As a result, they are great at low-frequency sounds and this is how most turtles communicate.
The inability to hear high frequency sounds (like for example the chirping of birds) do not bother them because they are perfectly fine at sensing vibrations and many other low-frequency sounds like, for example, vibration from drums.
How do turtles hear on land and underwater?
While being on land, turtles are unable to distinguish their predators. They are also unable to identify their prey. In most cases they simply rely on the change in air pressure or vibrations that are made by either one of them. It is said that the best sound frequency for turtles is in the range of 200 Hz and 750 Hz.
The anatomy of turtles’ ears make them better “hearers” underwater than when on land. It is all due to the fact that there is a fatty layer underneath the flaps. This layer is thick and as a result of that, hearing on land is greatly limited. Nonetheless, the same thing that makes it difficult to hear on land facilitates underwater hearing. You see, this skin and fat works as a perfectly fine conductor of sound waves.
What about music? Can turtles hear it?
The inability to pick up high frequency sounds mean that they will not hear most of the music that is played at such a frequency. It means that our turtle will not enjoy us playing a violin or other sounds that are above 1000 Hz. Obviously, we need to remember that it is not the case with many other types of music and even genres. A great example is, for example bass or low-pitched sounds.
As a result, we can go ahead and provide us turtles with such music. Nonetheless, bear in mind that they will not perceive it the way we do. It means there is no point in playing songs with lyrics for better understanding. Nor will they enjoy heavy bass-oriented songs with huge dynamics. This is surely a quick way to introduce a stressful environment and make your turtle agitated in a bad way.
Obviously, there are turtle owners that decide to play some music to their pets. And to be honest, I am one of those people. However, the only music that should be played to your reptile is a very calm and relaxing one that is, obviously, using low frequency sounds. In this way, you can make your turtle relaxed. It is obvious to state that playing music should start from the very beginning, so you get the turtle accustomed to the changes in air pressure.
Turtle hearing when compared to human’s
One of the main reasons why we see a huge difference in the way human beings and turtles hear is because of the external ears. For people, their goal is to “catch” the sound waves and then amplify it while sending to the internal parts of the ear. Turtles cannot have that and, because of that, they are able to catch low frequency sounds.
Interestingly, a lot of people wonder whether a turtle can communicate with humans. Well, there are special signs and body language as well as distinctive behavior of turtles that can be understood as a communication between you and your animal. Obviously, it is not as clear as communicating with another human being or even a dog. Needless to say, the possibilities of turtles in terms of communicating with us are far lesser than in the case of the most popular, four-legged house animals.
Still, there is such a possibility. You just need to know which signs to look for and how to read them. For example, in the case of fear, turtles will most likely withdraw their extremities as well as head and tail inside the shell. If; however, it stays outside with you, then it means that the turtle is not afraid of you.
Now you know whether turtles can hear!
Although hearing is not the most important sense for turtles, they surely use it in some situations. Mainly underwater, since their hearing apparatus is better constructed for such an environment. We shouldn’t forget; however, that their hearing range is, in terms of frequency, from 20 up to even 1000 Hz, which means that they surely can hear a lot of other sounds. They just interpret it in a different way mainly due to the construction differences in their body.
Still, it is possible for your turtle to catch low frequency sounds and, therefore, some turtle owners (me included) like to use it to play some classical music for the pets in order to give them something relaxing to hear or, to be more precise, to feel. Besides that, you should also remember not to play dynamic sounds.
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