Can tortoises hear?

1289Gabe

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I know this sounds silly, but can tortoises hear the same things as humans? Cause sometimes when I give mine a soak I’ll play the piano for him. He’ll walk to the side closest to the piano and sit there listening as I play.
 

Golden Greek Tortoise 567

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Tortoises and turtles certainly don’t hear as well as humans, in short they don’t have very good hearing. They hear at different frequencies like, a hatching egg. And only can hear certain levels of hertz. For example, humans can hear from 20Hz to 20,000Hz, of course hearing deteriorates over time so at middle age we can hear to about 14,000Hz. In comparison, tortoises and turtles can’t hear much above 1000Hz. So, torts and turtles cannot hear super high pitched noises or even nearly as well as we do.

What they can do well is sense vibrations. Which is why when someone comes to a tortoise enclosure, the tortoise has beforehand sensed the vibration, and comes to see what that is coming from. (Or is just waiting for food)
 

tortlover32

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Tortoises can't hear the way you and I do, they understand vibrations from things like footsteps to understand what's going on around them. This is an evolutionary trait they're naturally low to the ground so vibrations give them a good idea of any predators walking around them.
 

mark1

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anyone i have ever seen actually publish a study on this question said yes , tirtles and tortoises hear ...... they ears are as complex as humans , minus an outer ear ...... as far as ground vibration , i'd be interested in reading those articles ?
 

Yvonne G

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anyone i have ever seen actually publish a study on this question said yes , tirtles and tortoises hear ...... they ears are as complex as humans , minus an outer ear ...... as far as ground vibration , i'd be interested in reading those articles ?
Hey, Mark: I don't know who Jim Lindsay is but if you click on "hear" in the above post it takes you to an article written by him.
 

mark1

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i don't know who that is either , but reading the little bit i read ,i'm doubtful this is his expertise .

quote Jim Lindsay "As humans the part of our ear that let’s us process sound waves is called the pinna, however tortoises don’t have this part of the ear and therefore rely on vibrations. This is thought to be because they’re low to the ground, it makes more sense biologically to rely on vibrations over sound waves, as they aren’t in the sky."

the pinna is your outer ear , to think it's purpose is to "process sound waves " is incorrect ........ all sounds heard are by definition "vibrations" ....... imo , biologically what wouldn't make sense is to have a complex organ such as a turtle or tortoises ear and it has little to no use ??

i've read the article he seems to be referencing , even though that study does conclude they hear .... there are much more accurate ways of observing the hearing capabilities of anything other than looking for reactions ...... electrophysiologic hearing tests would be much better and way more accurate ........... i believe they monitor the auditory nerve ????


can they hear you ???? well , even the article this guy seems to be referencing got responses from 10hz-182hz

"The average man's speaking voice, for example, typically has a fundamental frequency between 85 Hz and 155 Hz. A woman's speech range is about 165 Hz to 255"

i guess if your an average speaking woman ,just try to talk real low and you should be alright
 
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