tortoise recognize their name?

[naturalman91]

My son and I always argued about this. All my box turtles have names and so does my tortoise. Each AM I go out and call all their names and they all come running from whereever they are hiding and go to the feeding stone. I only have one Cherry Head now and I go and call him by name and he also comes to me. We tried some experiments. My son went out and called Solo (CH) and he looked out from his hide but never came out. He also tried calling all the box turtles by name. Only two came out but the rest stayed in hiding. Then I went out and called to Solo. Come on dopey, here dopey. He came right over to me for a treat. The same with the box turtles. I went out and called all crazy names, and they all came running out to get their treats. It's definitely the sound of your voice, and also repetition of the same voice. My son never fed them before or called them, so they were hesitant, but when they heard my voice it was familiar to them and they associated it with food. So IMHO, they don't know names only sounds that are familiar to them, and they associate the voice they are familiar with, with food, or in the case with the box turtles, sometimes curiosity. I have found that box turtles are extremely curious.

That makes sense because they become accustom to your look voice and possibely smell?

 

[Lira]

My baby tortoise Lira also likes to touch noses. My friends didn't believe me when I took a selfie of us, they thought I staged the pic, so it was cool to stumble upon this thread.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I can say with certainty that they recognize individuals, however not names or words!

 

[turtlelou]

I can say with certainty that they recognize individuals, however not names or words!

View attachment 84331

I love this picture. It's so sweet.

 

[Pokeymeg]

I think my tortoise reacts to my voice and maybe my smell, but not his name. I don't think tortoises have the comprehension for that! And that's OK, I love him anyway

 

[ShadowRancher]

Yup agreed, they react to people they know but not to their own names.

 

[JoesMum]

They know who feeds them... names are meaningless. They aren't too choosy about who feeds either. Given the choice between food and someone they don't know and their regular feeder empty-handed then the person with the food will probably win!

 

[jhongsen]

mine never notice me whenever i call them :| may be they are too shy haha.... *sobs

 

[tmh]

My ebt Dave the female, about 14 years old does know her name. Friends freak lut if shes running loose in house and I call Dave, she will come right to me. Think it's combo of name and voice. Love her sooo much.

 

[christinaland128]

I thought Torts can't hear?

My Torts recognize my giant face. Lol. They know my face means foooood.

 

[Tortoise Police]

Tortoises have can feel vibration that they can recognize and once you feed and call they come if you have done it before because they recognize the vibration

 

[Cheryl Hills]

Tortoises have can feel vibration that they can recognize and once you feed and call they come if you have done it before because they recognize the vibration

I see you are from Boardman , I am in Youngstown.

 

[JasonThornton]

Interesting question that we will probably never know the answer too

 

[drew54]

I wouldn't see why they couldn't recognize their name. Much like any animal or human you hear the name enough and you will recognize you're being paged. The true test is getting another person to call their names and see if they come running. If not then it's most likely they recognize the voice.

 

[drew54]

You could also get a few hatchlings and put them in separate areas and have key words for each activity and after a year you should notice how they respond to each key word.

For example: during soak time for hatchling A. You could use the keyword "bath ".
Hatchling B. Use the keyword "soak".

Long experiment, but you may get a better understanding of what is recognized. It would be interesting to see the results over time.