# Tortoise senses??



## TortieFriends (Aug 15, 2012)

How well do you guys think a Tortie can smell? Do you think they can smell their food across their lil habitats? 

Curious about this one..


----------



## yoda3106 (Aug 15, 2012)

I'd say yes!! When I put the afternoon feed out, my Fred wonders out about 20mins after straight to it, that's if he's not out waiting already lol he knows the time of day lol he's clever!


----------



## JoesMum (Aug 15, 2012)

They have excellent colour vision and I'm pretty sure they have a good sense of smell too. 

Joe reacts to colour before smell, but new stuff always gets a good sniffing before it's tasted.


----------



## Mert (Aug 15, 2012)

JoesMum said:


> They have excellent colour vision and I'm pretty sure they have a good sense of smell too.
> 
> Joe reacts to colour before smell, but new stuff always gets a good sniffing before it's tasted.



I agree with the color vision! Merts favorite color is yellow! He will turn away from a red rose, but will eat yellow ones all day if you let him.


----------



## Madkins007 (Aug 15, 2012)

There is no doubt, scientifically- tortoises have a well-developed sense of smell. When they puff their throats, they are moving air across their scent organs.


----------



## Atra42o (Aug 15, 2012)

I was just wondering the same thing after watching Oogway explore the house... He's worse than a crawling infant lol... EVERY single speck of dust was first smelled, then he opened his mouth like he was about to eat it (right before I snatched whatever it was away lol) I thought I tortoise proofed, but he gave me a run for my money lol


----------



## Tom (Aug 15, 2012)

They have an excellent sense of smell. They can smell Mazuri while is soaking on the other side of the room and totally out of their sight.


----------



## Watsonpartyof4 (Aug 15, 2012)

Tyrone loves to smell my breath! When I get close to his enclosure, he comes over to me and sniffs my breath! When I put a strawberry in hi bowl I blow on it and he will lift his head up and sniff and come running!


----------



## GeoTerraTestudo (Aug 16, 2012)

Tortoises have an excellent sense of smell. As for their vision, their depth perception is not as good as ours, but they can see a broader range of colors than we can. Also, tortoises cannot hear frequencies as high as we can. However, they hear low frequencies well, and are good at detecting vibrations through their shell.


----------



## TortieFriends (Aug 16, 2012)

Wow, all this is some food for thought and sounds good!
Thanks for all the replies!


----------



## Mgridgaway (Aug 17, 2012)

I remember reading (on tortoiselibrary, perhaps? or maybe Mike Pingleton's book) that redfoots have been known to sit under fruit trees for days at a time, waiting for the almost ripe fruit they're smelling to fall. So yeah, pretty good sense of smell.

Isn't tortoise hearing heavily reliant on tympanic membranes?


----------



## GeoTerraTestudo (Aug 17, 2012)

Mgridgaway said:


> I remember reading (on tortoiselibrary, perhaps? or maybe Mike Pingleton's book) that redfoots have been known to sit under fruit trees for days at a time, waiting for the almost ripe fruit they're smelling to fall. So yeah, pretty good sense of smell.
> 
> Isn't tortoise hearing heavily reliant on tympanic membranes?



The tympanic membrane is commonly known as the eardrum. They are found in amphibians, reptiles (except snakes), birds, and us mammals. The eardrum simply absorbs sound waves, and then transmits the energy to bones inside the skull. These bones then transmit the energy to the cochlea, which contains tiny hair-like cells that respond to different frequencies. They then stimulate nerves, which transmit the signal to the brain, so we can hear.

The main reason mammals can hear higher frequencies than other vertebrates, is that we have more tiny bones in our ear. These are the malleus, incus, and stapes (the hammer, anvil, and stirrup). Other vertebrates (including turtles) only have the stapes, so they can't detect the fine vibrations we can.


----------

