Like most reptiles, turtles aren’t very social. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have any social interactions, they occasionally interact with one another. But there are a lot of turtle species and some are more social than others.

While turtles are not social animals there are a few special occasions they do exhibit social behaviors toward other turtles.

Now let’s see which are those special occasions when turtles are social.

Turtle Colonies

The groper tortoises can be considered the most social species of them all. This is because a lot of them live in well defined colonies. Those colonies have been studied and there have been signs of social behavior. The turtles in those colonies show signs of being friendlier with some turtles more than with others, so you can say that they are friends.

In those colonie some turtles also visit the burrows of some other turtles. These visits don’t have anything to do with feeding or mating. Those visits are also not random, they visit the same burrows every time. So they are most likely visiting their friends.

Turtles don’t have any form of greetings like when we shake hands or hug, or like dogs that smell each other. But those visits and the fact that they prefer to spend more time with some turtles than others, shows that this is indeed strictly social behavior since it doesn’t have any other purpose.

Basking

In the wild you can find a lot of turtles basking in the same place. But this is not necessarily social behavior. The reason why turtles gather in the same spot is because that spot is really good for basking.

During the basking time they will usually not interact with each other at all, with one exception. If the basking space is limited they will occasionally push, scratch or bite other turtles to make room for themselves.

If you own turtles you should make sure that the basking area is big enough, otherwise your turtles might start being social with each other, but in a bad way.

Staking

You’ve probably seen turtles stacked on top of each other. Even if this might seem as social behavior it’s not really that social. Turtles only do this to get warmer.

If you want to know more about stacking I have an entire article dedicated to this subject that you can find right here: Why Do Turtles Stack? (with Pictures and Videos).

Mating Season

During the mating season turtles are at their social peak.

Every turtle species has some kind of courtship ritual. Those courtship rituals can differ from turtle species to turtle species, some turtles will use their long foreclaws to attract mates, other species spit water on other turtle species, while other turtles just blink a lot while looking at the turtle they are interested in. All of those interactions are forms of social behavior.

The diamondback terrapins gather in large groups, sometimes reaching up to hundreds of turtle, for the mating season. At those gatherings all turtles will at some point interact with another turtle.

Of course a lot of aggressive behaviour would take place during the mating season when two or more turtles are competing for another turtle. And this aggressive behavior is also considered social behavior.

Nesting

Another major turtle gathering takes place during the laying season of the arrau river turtle and at the Orinoco River in Brazil during the egg laying season of the ridley turtle. Before the catastrophic decline of those once abundant species, each species arrived synchronously at the nesting beaches and thousands of the females would lay eggs at the same time. These major nestings are called arribada.

Arribada means arrival by sea in spanish.

The peak of the arribada occurs between September and october.

The first arribada recorded on film happened in the early 1960 on a beach in the Gulf of Mexico where an estimated 40,000 female Kemp’s ridley nested during a single day.

Unfortunately their species have declined dramatically from that time and now you can see only about 5,000 turtles during arribada.

If by any chance you are going to see an arribada in person you should try not to get too close to interfere in any way. In recent years a lot of people are interfering with their nesting by trying to touch them, to sit on them, or to take photos with flashes.

During this time turtles don’t interact too much with each other  and probably the only reason they choose to nest in the same area is just because the conditions in that area are very favorable and because if they are more their eggs have a better chance at survival.

In the video below you can see a ridley turtle arribada.

Hatching

Despite the fact that turtles are not very social most of their life when they are inside their eggs they are very social.

Recent studies have shown that while inside their eggs turtles communicate a lot between them. They do this so that they can synchronize when they will leave the egg.

But the only reason they socialize now is because if they leave all together they will have a better chance at survival. And because all of them will have to dig if they want to get out of the sand. During the time they are digging they are very organized and will usually work in shifts.

Eating

When it comes to eating turtles are not very social and don’t share their food like other animals do. But it can happen to see multiple turtles sharing a food source, like a fish for example. So this is not necessarily social behavior as much as the fact that they don’t mind that somebody else is eating from the same place as them.

Turtles will usually show signs of aggressive social behavior if the resources in the area are very few.

But there is a species of turtle that you can say it’s a little more social when it comes to food and that is the helmeted turtle. Helmeted turtles will usually work together to attack birds on the beaches. But again this is more of a necessity than a social activity, still the fact that they hunt together is a little more social than hunting alone.

Should I Get My Turtle a Companion?

If you want to do this because you think that your turtle is lonely then you shouldn’t do this. Turtles enjoy being alone most of the time.

When they are little turtles can get along just fine in a tank, but when they grow bigger and hormones start to kick in they will become more aggressive. So you will have to provide a space big enough for them so they won’t have to always meet.

Conclusion

So turtles are not very social. In most cases they interact with each other out of need, not because they enjoy other turtles’ company. It doesn’t mean that turtles can’t get along in bigger groups, they can get along fine as long as there is enough space and resources.

If two turtles are kept together from a young age in the same tank they might end up getting along better than they would have in the wild, but they still won’t be too social.

If you have any questions about turtles and their interactions between them, leave it in the comment section. I will answer it as soon as possible.

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