I own two pet turtles that are pretty active during the day, but sometimes when night comes and I turn the lights off, they become more active. So this got me wondering, are turtles nocturnal?
Turtles are diurnal animals, not nocturnal. But turtle activity during the night is not something uncommon.
So in the rest of the article, we should take a look at what are the night activities of turtles, why turtles are not nocturnal animals, and what you have to know as a turtle owner about their nightly activities.
What You Need to Know as a Pet Turtle Owner
If you own a pet turtle or you want to get a turtle as a pet you should know that turtles are not very active during the night, but during certain occasions, they can be, as you will see further down the article.
Turtles only sleep between 4 to 6 hours during the night, so a good part of the night they will be active, but this activity is not very noisy. During the few hours of the night that they are awake, they will do the things that they usually do, so not too much.
Your turtle won’t need any special attention during the night and they won’t be more active than they are during the day.
Now that we covered this aspect let’s continue with the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals.
Difference Between Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals
Nocturnal
Nocturnal animals are animals that are active during the night and rest during the day. The reasons an animal species became nocturnal in the first place can vary a lot, but here are some of the most common reasons.
A lot of animals that live in harsh environments, like the desert, for example, have evolved to be nocturnal to avoid the hours when the temperature is at its worst. So they choose to sleep at the hours when the heat is too powerful for them to be able to hunt, scavenge or even move around, and they choose to be active when the heat is more manageable.
Here is a video of multiple nocturnal desert animals during their night hunts:
Another common reason why animals choose to become nocturnal is that a lot of predators are active during the day and only a few during the night. By sleeping in a safe spot during the day, they are able to survive, and during the night they will be able to look for food and do other essential things for their survival.
The opposite of the last reason can also be true. Some animals evolved to be nocturnal because they were unable to hunt during the day. So instead of chasing their prey around during the day, they prefer to search for it during the night and attack them by surprise.
Over time those animal species that evolved to be nocturnal have adapted to this lifestyle, and as a result, they have developed enhanced senses that can help them. A lot of nocturnal animals have great hearing and smelling senses, and most of them are also able to see in the dark.
Diurnal
Diurnal animals are animals that do most of their activities during the day, and they spend their nights sleeping.
Since most of the animals in the world are diurnal, this is considered the norm, so there is no reason for animals to evolve into being diurnal since it’s assumed that at the start all animal species were diurnal.
Now that we know the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals, let’s take a closer look at turtles and see why they are not nocturnal animals.
Why Turtles Are Not Nocturnal Animals
The first, and most obvious point on this list is that turtles are active during the day and usually sleep at night, this disqualifies them as nocturnal animals from the start. But the interesting part here is the reasons why they can’t just sleep the day away and be active at night.
One critical reason is that turtles need UVB light in order to survive. UVB light helps them process the calcium in their body, and develop healthy and sturdy bones. And since their body is almost entirely covered with bones (the shell), calcium is very important for them. UVB light can only be obtained from the sun. So if they were to sleep in a safe spot during the night, they would deprive themselves of the UVB light of the sun and this will be very bad for their health.
Quick Note: If you didn’t know that the turtle shell is made out of bones, and you want to know more about this subject you should check out my article: What Are Turtle-Shells Made Of ? (with Pictures and Video), in this article you will find a more in-depth explanation about what turtle shells are made out of, as well as a video that will show you how turtles evolved through millions of years, in order to get their shell.
Another reason why turtles are not cut to be nocturnal animals is that they don’t have the best senses. While we don’t have too much information about their smelling sense at the moment, we can definitely say that it’s not on par with that of most animals. When it comes to hearing we know more about it than we know about their smelling sense, but even their hearing sense is not the worst, again it’s still not good enough to be efficient during the night. If you want to know how good or bad turtle hearing really is, you can check out my article: Do Turtle Have Ears? Can Turtles Hear? (with Pictures), there you will find all the facts that you need to properly understand how a turtle hears, as well as a little experiment that will let you simulate the way a turtle hears.
And while you can probably get away with not having the best hearing or the best smelling sense, the fact that turtles are not able to see in the dark will definitely be a problem.
Turtles Can’t See in the Dark
The way turtles can see in the dark is quite interesting, but in this article, I am going to focus on how turtles see in the dark, instead, I am going to tell you how we know that they can’t see in the dark.
In order to be able to see in the dark, an animal must have a tapetum lucidum. A tapetum lucidum is a reflective membrane that is positioned behind the eye, and it acts similar to a mirror. The tapetum lucidum will resend photons back to the eye to be reconnected.
An easy way to see if an animal has a tapetum lucidum is to take a photo of the animal with a flash. If the animal has a tapetum lucidum, then in the photo you will see its eyes glowing. But if the eyes don’t glow it means that the animal doesn’t have a tapetum lucidum.
As cameras have evolved, it’s getting harder to see this happen. Because all phones and most cameras remove things like glowing or red eyes as soon as the picture is taken. But you can try to stop the effects of your camera and take a photo with a flash of a dog and one of a turtle and see the difference. Here is one example.
This was a quick extract from my article called: Can Turtles See in The Dark? (with Pictures). In this article I cover things like; how turtles see colors, how turtles see in the dark, and a few other things regarding the way turtles see. But most importantly every part of the article is accompanied by pictures that will help you get a better understanding. So if you are interested, you should definitely check the article out.
Now that we covered the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals, and we clearly established that turtles are diurnal, let’s take a look at why sometimes they are active during the night, and more importantly, what are they doing during the night?
The Night Activities of Turtles
The reason why turtles are active during the night is quite simple. Unlike us, humans, turtles don’t need 8 or more hours of sleep. They can sleep only 4 or 6 hours and they will be full of energy. So after they are done sleeping they will start being active.
In the case of pet turtles, during the night they are probably doing the same things that they are doing the day.
In the case of wild turtles, they can either look for food, or they could be hiding. Depending on the area where they live, the night could be a peaceful time, or a time when big and scary predators walk around, so depending on the circumstances they will adapt.
Most turtles don’t have any kind of special activities that they do during the night, so when the night comes and they are done sleeping they will either hide or they will spend their time as they do during the day.
Sea turtles, on the other hand, have a special activity that they will do when the night comes, and that activity is egg-laying. Some sea turtles choose to lay eggs during the night because at that time most aerial predators, like seagulls, for example, will not be active, and as a result, their eggs will not be eaten the moment the turtle leaves the nest.
Here is a video of a green sea turtle laying eggs during the night:
Depending on the area where they live, even some aquatic and land turtles can lay their eggs during the night to avoid predators, but those cases are rare and are considered exceptions.
Related Questions
How fast are turtles? On average turtles walk at a speed between 3 to 4 miles per hour. The fastest turtles can reach 22 miles per hour ( 35 kilometers per hour ) in water and 15 miles per hour ( 24 kilometers per hour ) on land. The speed a turtle can reach is quite surprising, especially since they are known as very slow creatures. If you want to know what is the fastest turtle in the world, and how turtles compared to other animals when it comes to speed you should check out this article: How Fast or Slow Are Turtles? (with Videos and Statistics)
Are turtles born with a shell? Yes, turtles are born with a shell. When the baby turtle emerges from the egg, it emerges with a well-developed shell.
Can sea turtles sleep underwater? Yes, all sea turtles sleep underwater. But they usually try to stay as close to the surface as possible, in case they want to get some oxygen.
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