Turtle Talk
Although turtles have been the subjects of numerous research projects for centuries it is only recently that we have discovered turtles can vocalize. Recent studies published by Chelonia Conservation and Biology and Herpetologics found that leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) and Amazon river turtles (Podocnemis expansa) can volcalize. These vocalizations were heard during a variety of activities including adult to hatchling interactions, hatching, and mating.
Richard Vogt, Director for the Center for Amazon Turtle Conservation says that the reason we never knew this is “because no one studied it, because some of the literature on reptiles published back in the 1950s claimed that turtles were deaf as a stump and did not vocalize, and everyone just believed [it] without investigating it.” Vogt also says there was lack of sufficient technology for recording partially because the sounds are at low frequency and volume.
The Amazon river turtle, one of the largest species of freshwater turtles are found in the serene waters of the Orinoco and Amazon river systems. Females can weigh up to 200 pounds, whereas males are significantly smaller. Sadly, its friendliness makes them especially susceptible to poaching.
The average weight of the leatherback is a whopping 800 pounds, placing it fourth on the list of heaviest reptile species in The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. The IUCN lists them as Vulnerable. They are threatened by entanglement in fishing nets, chocking on garbage that they mistake for jellies, and being eaten by people.
Researchers recorded sounds during hatching for both of the species. It is thought that the chirps, clicks, and clucks made is the coordinating of their hatching. Researchers used microphones to record sounds in 12 nests of leatherback sea turtles in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Amazon river turtle makes sounds as earlier as 10 days prior to hatching. Hatchlings are highly preyed upon and Vogt suggests that “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.”
Although it is still unknown as to how these turtles create sounds we do know that they are important for their survival. People should now be even more conscious of noise pollution that could prevent hatchlings from being able to hear each other for proper communication.
Information used from http://oceana.org/en/blog/2014/07/baby-sea-turtles-found-to-make-noise-to-coordinate-hatching and http://ne ws.mongabay.com/2014/0725-morgan-turtletalk.html
Photographs from: https://www.mcnett.com/m-essentials/blog/saving-leatherback-sea-turtles