14 DAY TRIAL // As it turns out, turtles are by no means as mute as most people think them to be. On the contrary, they have the ability to vocalize, and resort to producing different sounds both when looking for a mate and during social interactions.
This behavior is detailed in two different studies, of which one is available in the journal Chelonian Conservation and Biology, and the other in the journal Herpetologica, Mongabay informs.
The first of these two papers focuses on giant Amazon river turtles. These turtles can grow to measure about 1 meter (over 3 feet) in length, and weigh about 200 pounds (91 kilograms).
In their natural environment in the Amazon Basin, these reptiles vocalize both when they are mere hatchlings, and when they become adults. The sounds they produce serve to ensure communication between individuals.
Leatherback turtles, on the other hand, which can grow to be 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) long and tip the scale at 850 pounds (about 380 kilograms), chiefly vocalize after having emerged from their eggs. Like Amazon river turtles, they produce clicks, meows, and clucks.
It is believed that baby turtles belonging to both these species vocalize to a significant extent during their first few days of life to coordinate with one another and travel towards the nearest body of water in a group.
“If the hatchlings all leave the nest at once there is safety in numbers, a swamping of predators, thus a few turtles will make it though to the sea. There they keep communicating to migrate off in cohesive groups, which again should be safer than trying it alone,” says researcher Richard Volk.
Furthermore, “The hatchlings of the giant Amazon river turtle respond to the vocalizations of their mothers and migrate with the large adult females away from the nesting beaches to feeding grounds 70 to hundreds of kilometers away.”
The specialist and his colleagues suspects that other turtle species use sounds to communicate with one another as well. In light of these findings, they recommend that future studies focus on how noise pollution can affect these animals.