Female turtles «talk» to their hatchlings, scientists discover
Vogt is a herpetologist with Brazil's National Institute for Amazonian Research who recently received the ninth annual Behler Turtle Conservation Award for lifetime achievement. Twenty-five years after that giant first pulled him under, he's still studying these fascinating creatures. In fact, in the most recent issue of Herpetologica, the first known evidence that turtles provide parental care for their hatchlings was reported by Vogt and Camila Ferrara of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
"The giant South American river turtle is one of the most social species of turtle in the world," Vogt said. "They migrate together, they nest communally, and they hatch out in huge numbers together." And now, thanks to 220 hours' worth of underwater recordings, Vogt and his team have shown that female giant South American river turtles in Brazil call to their hatchlings once they reach the water for the first time, the National Geographic reports. Pillow Talk The very idea that turtles can communicate with each other using sound is rather new. Turtles lack vocal cords and their ears are internal, so for many years scientists simply assumed turtles were, as Vogt called it, "deaf as a post." Over the past 50 years of working with these animals, it always seemed strange to him that some species could seem so downright organized without some form of communication. For instance, when giant South American river turtles (also known as Arrau river turtles) leave the water to dig a nest and lay eggs, they do so in single file. Vogt has witnessed a queue of females stretching 16 turtles long-though regrettably, that tally was reduced to 15 after a black caiman picked off the last in line. In recent years, however, herpetologists have started to detect a whole host of sounds made by the reptiles, both in and out of the water. "Not only are the turtles talking," said Vogt, "they're talking before they hatch." Vogt suspects that sounds made while the hatchlings are still in the shell may stimulate the group to emerge all at once. They may also account for the many premature hatchlings commonly found at the bottom of a nest. Presumably, the turtles hear their siblings' calls and pop out before they're physically ready.
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