Turtles: can hear

The turtles and the turtles have ears to hear sounds and vibrations even if you can’t see them. A way to help us better understand how this species can perceive the world around us. Turtles are a very old world to be explored.

Where are turtles’ ears and how are they made? Turtles do not have an outer ear, which is the pinna, like those of mammals. Instead they have little ones flaps from skin more or less stratified. These are eardrums that are in contact with the air. They are small elastic membranes thatsound wave to pass it on to the middle ear. The latter then passes it on to the inner ear. Finally, the sound waves are processed and sent to the brain.

Here is that the turtles can hear the sound. The said skin flaps have the function of protecting the ear against any external damage. They are located on either side of the animal’s head. Right behind the eyes and right on the last fold of the mouth.

Their eardrums can only perceive low-frequency sounds, averaging between 100 and 700 Hertz. The middle ear consists of only one bone called columella connected to the oral cavity. It is similar to the three ossicles of the mammalian middle ear: stirrup, anvil, and hammer.

Furthermore, it should be noted that there is a difference in hearing between sea turtles and tortoises. Those sea creatures that live in the water have a more developed hearing for higher frequencies that adapt to the medium in which the sound travels. In water, sound waves travel faster through water than through air. The density under water depends on the pressure, salinity and temperature. Sound travels fastest in shallow, warm water and slower in deep, cold water. This is also shown by a study that examined the difference in the green turtle’s hearing both in and out of the water.