Both turtles and tortoises have an internal ear that performs the function of hearing in these animals.Turtles have a sense of smell, sense of taste, sight, and other senses, just like the numerous animal species in the world, but it is their sense of hearing which differs from others. Due to the lack of external ears, all turtle species, whether it is sea turtles or land turtles, they are not able to hear as nicely as most other animals.Turtles have internal ears, but they are not as well developed as the external ears, and thus turtles have to rely on their other sets of body senses, such as sight, smell, and others, for survival from predators and to perform other functions as well. It is difficult for average humans to spot a turtle’s ears as they are located inside his head. Turtles have smooth heads with no particular holes in them, which we generally assume to associate this fact with the presence of no ears. Over the past years, we have also come to understand that turtles respond very well to loud noises but do not respond when they hear soft sounds. A pet turtle is best known to hear low-frequency sounds and distinguish them from other types of sounds, which works in its favor in escaping from predators.Do turtles have ears?Turtles can hear, which proves the fact that turtles have ears, but an interesting fact here is, turtles do not have dedicated external ears like us humans and thus are not able to hear as well as most of the other animals on Earth. All turtle species have internal ears, which enable the animal to detect sound waves and react accordingly, working like external ears in humans and other animals.Whether it is sea turtles or land turtles, all kinds of turtles have tiny holes at the sides of their head, which aren’t often visible to the naked eye as turtles have very smooth heads. Turtles use these holes to let any kind of nearby sound waves enter, which further enables the turtle to hear. In general, although turtles can hear a lot of noise around them, they do not have eardrums, and that prohibits the animal from hearing as well as other animal species. Whenever there is a change of water pressure nearby, turtles can detect this as sound waves and accordingly save themselves from predators of all sorts nearby.Interestingly, although turtles lack a well-developed hearing system, they have been blessed with other bodily senses, such as the sense of smell and the sense of sight. Turtles have been bestowed with excellent vision as they can distinguish between different kinds of shapes and patterns, enabling them to safeguard themselves from potential predators. Many sea turtles can see a variety of colors which assists them in detecting the different kinds of food around and, at the same time, escape from a predator. Did you know, turtles have such a well-developed sense of smell that they can utilize these senses during mating season to pick up pheromones from the female turtle species?Can turtles hear, and how well?Both turtles and tortoises have a different hearing systems in comparison to most of the other animals in the world. Although lacking an external ear, turtles can hear well to react accordingly, save themselves from predators, look for food and communicate among themselves.How well a turtle can hear depends upon the frequencies of the sound waves which the turtle is receiving, the range of the origin of the sound waves, and the turtle itself. At the same time, the mechanism of a turtle’s ear also affects how well it is able to hear. A turtle’s ear has seven distinct parts, of which the inner ear and the middle ear are the two primary ones that play a pivotal role in hearing sounds. An interesting fact here is that turtles have unique thin flaps of skin on their heads that capture sound waves and transmit them to the inner ear along with the assistance of the middle ear. Turtles hear low-frequency sounds better than they can hear sounds of high frequencies, such as birds chirping. A common myth that can be an assumption associated with turtles’ hearing ability is that they lack auditory perception as people cannot see their ears and assume that these animals cannot hear any sort of sound around them.How Do Turtles Hear On LandThe hearing ability of turtles on land and underwater has a stark difference as sound waves do not travel easily on land. When on land, turtles cannot hear most of the sounds that their prey or predator makes.It has been observed that air, unlike water, isn’t a very good carrier of sound waves, and thus the turtle has to only rely on vibrations and changes in air pressure to detect any nearby sound as far as possible. But all turtles are able to better hear low-frequency sounds than sounds of high frequencies, whether it is on land or underwater. Turtles can hear a lot better underwater compared to land because water particles are better carriers of sound waves than air. This allows the sound to travel a longer distance and be heard more clearly than when the turtle is on the land. Most animals living in water have adapted to internal ears as hearing with external ears would be pretty tricky and inconvenient.A Turtle’s Hearing RangeThe hearing system of turtles is not something you come across in every other animal; this animal doesn’t have an external ear and instead has internal ears segmented into the middle ear, inner ear, and other parts. Turtles can hear sounds of only a specific type, predominantly low-frequency sounds, as the skin of the flap located on the sides of their head cannot capture high frequencies exceptionally well.Over the years, researchers have learned that the optimum auditory range of a turtle is from 200 Hz to 750 Hz and haven’t looked to respond to sounds that are above the 1000 Hz mark. Even within the 200 Hz to 750 Hz mark, the hearing system of the turtle is most sensitive from 200 Hz to 500 Hz. Scientists have carefully carried out experiments on the green sea turtles, which have provided similar results. Interestingly, most of these experiments have been conducted on adult turtles, but it is believed that the results wouldn’t differ a lot, even when the tests are carried out on baby turtles.Can turtles hear music?Humans feel pretty relaxed and entertained after hearing some music, whether it is some high-pitched ones or some low-frequency melodious tunes. Still, unfortunately, turtles aren’t so privileged and cannot enjoy the music we do. Like any other sound, a turtle’s ear isn’t able to hear high-frequency music but can comfortably hear low-frequency music.Turtles can easily hear music that has a low frequency, such as sounds produced using a cello, but at the same time, they cannot hear music that has a high frequency, such as that produced by a violin. Scientists believe that a pet turtle merely interprets music as a change in the pressure of air or some sound waves when in water but doesn’t identify music notes the way we humans do. This animal is especially sensitive to hearing music which is within the range of 200 Hz to 500 Hz.How Turtles Hear Compared To HumansRanging from the structure of a turtle’s ear to its hearing range, the hearing system of a turtle is pretty different from that of a human being. Most importantly, a turtle cannot hear as well as a human being and a lot of other animals as well as it lacks an external ear which plays an essential role in not only detecting prey underwater or on the land but also escaping from a predator and finding mating counterparts during the mating season.The primary difference between the hearing ability of a turtle and that of a human being is the lack of external ears. In layman’s terms, a part of the external ear absorbs the sounds nearby and amplifies them to comprehend them better and make it easier for the brain to understand, but turtles cannot undertake this function. It is like turtles hear what we do, too, but at a way lower volume level, and for higher frequency sounds, the volume level is so low that they cannot hear at all. Did you know, when the turtle is underwater, its hearing mechanism potentially functions better than the human hearing system as well because the skin flaps can pick up vibrations in the water pretty efficiently.On the other hand, although turtles have a weak hearing system compared to humans, as well as a lot of different animal species, they have been blessed with incredible vision and the ability to smell, which helps this animal find food nearby and easily distinguish between a potential predator and prey as it can detect different kinds of colors even underwater although it lacks peripheral vision.
Both turtles and tortoises have an internal ear that performs the function of hearing in these animals.
