What do you know about turtle behavior?

January 7, 2023 1:15 AM

Other researchers may have missed turtle noises since they tend to be quiet, infrequent and low-pitched — just at the edge of human hearing. Leatherback sea turtles, for instance, appear to have ears tuned to the frequency of waves rolling ashore. Some species can take hours to reply to each other.
posted by aniola (10 comments total)

Some species can take hours to reply to each other.

Yep.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:13 AM on January 7, 2023 [6 favorites]

This is really interesting!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/06/turtles-eat-south-america/

I also really wonder how these URLs come into being
posted by trig at 4:22 AM on January 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

TIL that baby turtles are called CUBS :D
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:37 AM on January 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

I thought They Might Be Giants were just being silly with their spoken-word "Turtle Songs of North America." Which they were, of course.

The song of the Downy Tortuga can be easily recognized, for it seems to be repeating the word "unclean. Unclean."
posted by Countess Elena at 8:52 AM on January 7, 2023

“We’re looking for sounds at a temporal rate that is as quick as we speak. And so we have blinders on our ears.”

Maybe could've slowed down to think of a better word than "blinders" in this context heh.

The effect of noise pollution on animal communication is so sad. We've drastically expanded ways in which humans can effectively communicate, and it's difficult to imagine us getting to a place where we're considerate enough to listen better, let alone actually shut up a bit.
posted by otsebyatina at 2:26 PM on January 7, 2023 [3 favorites]

This article is also quite interesting - BRAZIL: Amazon Turtles – Illegal Protein for the Poor, Delicacy for the Rich
posted by aniola at 3:07 PM on January 7, 2023

My family's Passover haggadah has the line "Spring comes, and the sound of the turtle is heard in our land." I've never been able to resist interposing my own interpretation, of necessity more imaginative than fact-based. Maybe I can up the realism next time.
posted by aws17576 at 3:37 PM on January 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

I assume the original meant turtle-doves?
posted by tavella at 12:04 PM on January 8, 2023 [1 favorite]

No, that's Christmas.
posted by aws17576 at 11:26 PM on January 8, 2023

No, that's Christmas.

... what? (I'm probably missing a joke, but the verse from the Song of Solomon is indeed about a type of dove, and "turtle" is a bad translation)

The only sound of a turtle that would have been audible to Solomon would be a hiss. (Or a sneeze, I guess.)
posted by trig at 11:44 PM on January 8, 2023