How Smart Are Turtles? Living With An Intelligent Pet Turtle.

Before getting a turtle, One will always have a lot of questions such as how smart are turtles or do they eat a lot, what do they eat, how long do they live. It is quite normal to have all these questions. It just shows that you are caring. Today we will be looking at how smart turtles are. Before getting any pet, we all want a pet that can be trained and easily learns to make it easy for the owner. Getting a pet turtle is the same. You will want a turtle that is open to learning. Stay tuned to know whether turtles are smart and open to learning.

Having an intelligent pet is all every owner can ask for. Can turtles learn new things? Do they have memory? Do turtles have feelings? Let us look at all these below.

Do Turtles Have Feelings?

Turtles’ feelings and human beings’ feelings are very different. A turtle cannot show sorrow or hate or love as human beings do. They do experience the feelings. To help you understand better, I will explain using examples. For instance, turtles do feel pain. They have nociceptors that bring the pain sensation when the turtle is hurt. They can also know when their shells are in pain. The turtles are also fearful just like human beings and this is the reason they can survive in the wild. They can tell when there is danger ahead. The funny thing is that they can also experience stress. When they feel threatened, they get stressed. A researched was carried out and it proved that turtles with less stress also heal much faster when they are injured. Anger, happiness, and sadness are more complicated. Turtles cannot show anger but they do fight with other turtles. Mostly for food or the female turtle. This is not out of hostility. It is rather a competition. A turtle cannot get mad at you since you failed to provide food. About happiness and sadness, they don’t know what happiness or sadness is. If a turtle lost the owner, he cannot get sad. Whenever one says that keep your turtle happy, it means that you should ensure that he is comfortable and he gets all he requires. He cannot experience happiness.

Can A Turtle Recognize You?

Turtle are smart animals and they can recognize you if you feed them. Turtles only care about very little. They care about their survival, food, basking, and reproduction. Anything else besides that means nothing to them. Survival is their top priority and the only thing that makes them recognize you is that you help them survive. You shelter them and protect them from predators. You also give them food which is part of their survival. This makes them look like very bad animals but this is just their nature. That is how their minds are set. For them to survive, they should not get too affectionate. When you give them away or let them out to the wild, they will not sit there and cry to you for support. They find other ways to survive. Pet turtles are very cute and good animals to keep. They will serve their purpose and they will recognize you as their owner and protector. They are smart enough to recognize your voice also.

How Smart Are Red Eared Sliders?

Turtles appear to be so dumb. You would think they don’t understand anything. From a research carried out years ago, the turtle is believed to have a brain similar to the birds. Red-eared sliders are the most widely kept turtles. They are smart in a way as they are known to also recognize their owner’s voice as well as their look. They can solve problems such as trying to escape when he is not in his aquarium. He can respond to his name and some commands. He can get some commands that seem to benefit him like a treat. I believe if they are trained, they could get really smart. A friend of mine says that his red-eared slider knows when it is food time and he will go to his feeding area when it is time. That is very smart.

How Smart Are Box Turtles?

Box turtles are among the smartest turtles. I say these because a study conducted by some scientists showed that a box turtle can go through forest, ponds, valleys and even dangerous roads to get back to spots they remember. The spots include food spots, mating, nesting spots, and water spots. This is quite interesting as they don’t just go to any spots. They have specific spots. Box turtles possess an ability to remember things that revolve around their survival. I’ve heard people say that they use the same path to get to the same point. I don’t know how true this is but it is good for thought. For a turtle that can remember things for so long should be able to know their owner and their voices.

How Smart Are Painted Turtles?

The painted turtles are cousins to the red-eared sliders. They have a good sense of smell and really good eyesight. These are enough to recognize you as the person who brings them food. I went through a post that was explaining research carried out to test the spatial sense of animals. A hole was covered with a glass on top to see if the animals would sense danger ahead. Some animals such as the painted sea turtles passed across the glass. Surprisingly, the box turtle never crossed. They felt a sense of danger ahead. This does not mean that painted turtles are dumb. They spend most of the time in water and they fear no heights. The painted turtles are among the turtles kept widely and they are smart enough to know how to survive.

Do Turtles Have Good Memory?

Although turtles cannot be as smart as a cat or a dog, they are not stupid. They can understand a few things. From most sources, I have noticed that turtles will mostly remember the things that benefit them. For instance, a turtle can recognize her owner because the owner brings her food and plays with her. On the other hand, if a stranger approached her, she will hide inside her shell. I think the only thing with turtles is that they have smaller memories and can only remember things for a short period. For example, when you give her food for a while and play with her, she will recognize you, your hand and even your voice and she will come towards you when you approach. If you gave her away or she stops seeing you more often, I don’t think she will be able to recognize you. With this am trying to say that turtles do have memories only that their memories remember things for a short period.

We have learned how smart turtles are. Their smartness revolves around their survival. Check also great turtles names!