Everyone loves turtles! They’re gentle, adorable, and unusual in all the right ways, making them popular with kids and animal enthusiasts everywhere.
But you already know all that, and that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here to find out if turtles are intelligent.
The thing is, it’s fairly difficult to determine how smart reptiles such as turtles are compared to mammals. What we do know is that turtles aren’t that stupid; in fact, they’re capable of some amazing feats of intelligence!
Want to know more? Then please keep reading!
How Smart Are Turtles? Here’s What the Science Says!
Scientists have learned a lot about reptile intelligence by examining their brains. The turtle brain, for instance, doesn’t have a big cerebral hemisphere. In contrast, mammals and even birds have more developed cerebral hemispheres.
What’s so special about this part of the brain? Simple: it governs reasoning, logic, and learning. A smaller cerebral hemisphere is the reason why turtles aren’t as smart as cats, dogs, pigs, and primates.
Turtles may not be the brainiest critters on the planet, but we wouldn’t call them dumb. Below, we discuss the various ways turtles are smarter than your average reptile!
1. Turtles learn through experience
Turtles don’t go through life never learning anything new. The things they experience teach them new behaviors that can help them adapt to environments and situations.
There are two ways turtles learn through experience: through training and problem-solving.
Training
Believe it or not, you can train turtles in the same way you can train dogs. Don’t expect them to do any amazing tricks, though; turtles aren’t as smart as dogs, so they can only learn simple commands.
You can, for example, train a turtle to enter a box if you want them to travel with you, or to offer their feet when you want to clip their nails.
The best way to train a turtle is via positive reinforcement – that is, rewarding it (preferably with a delicious treat) whenever it successfully obeys a command. Once the turtle has formed an association between obeying you and receiving a reward, it’ll continue doing the former to make the latter happen.
If you train a turtle properly, it’ll even start recognizing you as a food source. The moment it sees you, it’ll go crazy with anticipation. Try not to give it food when it begs for it, however, as you could end up overfeeding it.
Keeping a consistent feeding schedule can also teach a turtle when it’s time to eat so that when it knows food is on its way, you’ll see it getting ready.
Problem-solving
Also like dogs, turtles have the capacity to lean via trial and error. Using observational skills and memory, they can figure out how to solve problems brought about by difficult situations.
In one study, a research team placed a red-foot tortoise in a maze. The creature navigated its way through the maze and found the exit. Along the way, it avoided blocked routes it had already taken on previous attempts, clearly indicating it has the ability to observe what’s going on around it and recall past experiences from memory. This also demonstrates that when the reptile encounters an obstacle, it’ll attempt to find a way around the problem by using new solutions.
2. Turtles have instinctive intelligence
Wild animals are born with natural instincts, which govern their behaviors to help them and their species survive.
This instinctive intelligence varies among species. For instance, many bird species simply know how and when to migrate as well as where to migrate to.
Aquatic turtles also have instinctive smartness, and like birds, they migrate enormous distances throughout their life whenever they need to look for more food, new habitats, and potential mates. What’s incredible about these animals is that they can return to the exact same location where they hatched, marking it as a safe place where survivability is high.
Sea turtles also roam the seas at night; they instinctively know they’re far less likely to be killed by predators when the sun’s gone down.
3. Turtles have spatial intelligence
Spatial intelligence is crucial for an animal’s survival as it gives them awareness and understanding of their surroundings. After all, a critter that recognizes the dangers of walking off a cliff is more likely to stay alive than one that doesn’t understand that falling from a great height equals death.
A research team studied the spatial intelligence of various creatures. In several experiments, they created a deep hole in the ground, then covered it with a transparent glass sheet. The setup resembled an actual cliff.
The researchers then placed various species near the faux cliff’s edge. Lizards walked across the glass sheet ignoring the cliff beneath them. However, smarter animals like rats noticed the fall and refused to walk across the sheet. This indicates such animals have spatial sense.
Terrestrial turtles such as box turtles also didn’t walk across the sheet and over the fall – a clear sign they understand their physical relationship with the environment, allowing them to avoid dangers such as falls.
Interestingly enough, aquatic turtles such as painted turtles did walk across the cliff. This could mean they don’t have advanced spatial sense like their terrestrial cousins.
What is the Smartest Breed of Pet Turtle?
People keep a variety of turtle breeds as pets, such as painted turtles, red-eared sliders, box turtles, and North American wood turtles. All of them have been observed to be capable of learning and problem solving as well as having instinctive intelligence and spatial intelligence.
The North American Wood turtle is generally considered the smartest of these pet breeds due to its ability to solve a maze rapidly. It even boasts an excellent memory and homing ability that allows it to determine the right direction when looking for food.
How Good is Turtle Memory?
Turtles have fairly good long-term memory. As discussed above, they can remember past experiences and use those memories to solve problems. They can remember the appearance and scent of their owners as well as their feeding schedule. They can also form associations between specific behaviors and what rewards they can obtain by exhibiting those behaviors.
In contrast, however, turtles have poor short-term memory.
Do Turtles Have Emotions?
They do, but don’t expect them to be as varied and complex as humans and other mammals’.
Of course, because turtles lack expressive faces, it’s often difficult to tell what they’re feeling. The only way to know what emotions they’re experiencing is by observing their behavior and body language, which they use to express basic emotions.
For example, when danger is nearby, turtles protect themselves by withdrawing into their shell or by simply running (or the turtle version of running). If you make them angry, they could “chase” you. When they’re content, their head and limbs will be relaxed outside of the shell. Stress due to poor living conditions manifests as lethargy and/or reduced appetite.
Conclusion
True, turtles aren’t the smartest critters in the animal kingdom. However, they’re intelligent enough to use past experiences to solve problems and learn through training. They’re aware of their surroundings and their relationship to them. Their instinctive intelligence also allows them to do amazing things, such as travel hundreds of miles and relocate the place where they were born.
We hope this article has been helpful in answering your question about turtle intelligence!