Do Turtles Like Music? (and What Is Their Favorite Genre)

Music is an art form and a cultural activity created by humans for humans. But does this mean that we are the only ones that can enjoy it? When I play music in my house my turtle will inevitably hear it, does he enjoy it, does he tolerate it, or is he impartial to it? To find out the answer I decided to do some research, here is what I found out.

Turtles can like music. Turtles don’t perceive music the same way humans do, but some sounds are more pleasant to them than others. So turtles will like certain types of music and they will dislike other types.

So only like some genres of music, but this is not because of social or cultural influences, like in our case. As I said, the way they perceive music is different than the way we perceive it. So let’s take a closer look at how they perceive music and see what kind of music turtles like and why.

How Turtles Perceive Music

The way turtles hear is similar to the way we hear, but at the same time, it’s a little different. Turtles don’t have any external ears, but they still have the internal part of the ear, so they are still able to hear to some extent.

Turtles are mostly able to hear loud or deep sounds that produce a lot of vibrations. So it’s like having water trapped in your ears all the time.

Another important thing to know about turtles and their hearing is that they are able to hear a lot better when they are underwater, this is because the vibrations of a sound are easier to capture underwater.

When it comes to music turtles will be able to hear certain instruments, like the bass, while some other instruments won’t be heard too well.

So we can assume that depending on the volume of the music, turtles won’t be able to hear some sounds as well as others.

Now let’s move to the next part and see how turtles understand music.

How Turtles Understand Music

Turtles are not necessarily the smartest animals, but they are definitely not stupid, ( you can check out this article if you want to know how smart turtles really are: How Smart Are Turtles? The Definitive Answer ) but no matter how intelligent an animal is they will probably never understand music to the same level as we do.

While some turtles might end up associating a few words with their meaning, for example, if you say food, they might understand that you are about to give them something to eat, but they definitely can’t understand the meaning of the words in a song.

But the lyrics of a song can still have an impact on the turtle, this can happen when you combine them with certain types of music.

From a very young age we humans are usually exposed to a lot of music, soundtracks, tunes, etc. And due to this, we end up associating them with certain things. For example, if I tell you to think about a sound that you would hear in a horror movie, you can probably think of at least a couple, and if you were to tell somebody those sounds, they will also think about a horror movie. After being exposed to so much music, and sounds, we ended up associating them with certain things. Everybody can instantly tell just by listening to the first seconds of a song if it’s going to be a country song or a techno song. So we can say everybody has at least a pretty good basic understanding of music.

But turtles on the other hand are not exposed to all the music that we are exposed to, and they will probably never be able to understand the meaning of certain sounds.

The only way a turtle can end up understanding a sound is by training it to respond to a certain sound in a certain way. But that is usually not practical if you have a pet turtle. Those kinds of things are usually done to test the intelligence of pets, and they are better left to scientists and trained professionals.

Even if turtles don’t understand the music, they can still be influenced by the music to react in a certain way,

How Turtles React to Music

There are thousands of studies out there that show that all animals will react to different types of music differently.

The best example that I can give you is this. Think about how a classical music concert looks, it’s probably a lot of people sitting and quietly enjoying the music. Now think of a rock concert, most probably people are moving around and are being very energetic. Those two different types of music are fundamentally very different, one is meant to be very calm and suiting, while the other one is meant to be very alert and energetic. And people react to each one accordingly.

When it comes to the basic principle, animals usually react to music the same way we do. If you play them calm and music they will be a lot calmer, if you play them something very alert, they will start to be more agitated.

Turtles are no different than the rest of the animals when it comes to music, they will always react to the music depending on what kind of music it is.

What Kind of Music do Turtles Like?

This is surprisingly easy to answer. All turtles like classical music.

For us humans, it would be impossible to give such a simple answer, but this is because we are complex beings, and our tastes are influenced by a lot of things. But on the other hand, turtles are a lot more simplistic, and as I said they don’t react to lyrics, and they are only influenced by the soundtrack on a very basic level.

Unlike us, turtles don’t feel fully motivated, or sad, or happy, or nostalgic when they listen to music. So the music that is meant to make you feel a certain way is meaningless to them, they might enjoy it if it produces sound waves similar to classical music, or if it has a similar tempo. But that’s usually not the case.

Should I Play Music to My Turtle?

You can play music to your turtle, but it’s definitely not a necessity, and only if it’s classical, or if it’s a slow and relaxing song that contains simple sounds.

At the moment researchers haven’t found any concrete proof that music influences the turtle in a positive way. The only thing that they’ve found is that classical music can make them feel calmer but other than that there is no other health benefit.

So it’s up to you if you want to play music to your turtle. In my opinion, you can do it once in a while, after all who doesn’t enjoy some music from time to time.

Related Questions

Do turtles get lonely? No, turtles do not get lonely. Actually, they are very solitary creatures and enjoy spending time alone.

Can all turtles swim? No, not all turtles are able to swim. Tortoises are a type of turtle that lives on land. Most aquatic turtles have feet that are somewhat similar to flippers, which allows them to swim properly. Tortoises on the other hand have feet that are more similar to the ones of an elephant, and they are not good for swimming.

Can turtles feel cold? Yes, turtles can feel cold. Turtles are cold-blooded, meaning that they don’t generate their own body heat, and they rely on the environmental heat to maintain their body temperature. And they have to be able to feel cold and heat to be able to choose a good spot to bask.

Do turtles mate for life? No, turtles will not mate for life. Every mating season they will look for a new partner to mate with. It is also very common for turtles to have various partners during one mating season.

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