View Full Version : what sound do turtles make
teemingONE
08-17-2002, 09:13 PM
well a wolf howls, a cat meows, a dog barks, what do turtles and tortoises do?
teemingONE
08-17-2002, 10:24 PM
ive heard it been called chirping, is it called chirping?
racer72
08-17-2002, 10:27 PM
Our box turtle makes a hissing sound if the dog gets to close, otherwise he is totally silent.
Mr2001
08-17-2002, 10:30 PM
Haven't you seen Master of Disguise? They go "turtle, turtle, turtle".
astro
08-17-2002, 11:15 PM
Snapping turtles hiss like snakes.
mangeorge
08-17-2002, 11:31 PM
Lookie what I found (http://www.tortoise.org/tortcall.html).
My (adult) daughter's African Spurred Tortoise hisses. He'll also shit at you if he gets really agitated. The article doesn't mention that. Wonder why. ;)
Peace,
mangeorge
mangeorge
08-17-2002, 11:38 PM
Play those sounds for your cat. He'll (she'll) love you for it. :D
Babar714
08-18-2002, 03:04 AM
Crunch?
I used to live by a forested area where turtles made that noise on the road about once a week. And I really like turtles. I remember crying like a baby everytime I saw a flattened turtle on the road.
Una Persson
08-18-2002, 07:54 AM
I can personally verify that the Alligator Snapping Turtle can hiss quite loudly (as well as jump completely off the ground when it is trying to kill you - and I have a photograph to prove it, too).
Earl Snake-Hips Tucker
08-18-2002, 12:26 PM
Just in the unlikely event that this has some biblical reference. . .
The King James version of the Bible uses the phrase "voice of the turtle," but the turtle to which it refers is the "turtle dove."
The first recorded use of the word "turtle" to refer to "marine tortoises" didn't occur until many years after the KJV was written, so there would have been no confusion at the time.
For several hundred years before that, "turtle" meant "turtle dove" and only that. The word itself refers to the "turr-turr" sound that doves make. Sailors corrupted the word "tortoise" to "turtle," which is how--to the nit-pickers, anyway--it came to mean the sea-going critters specifically, although in common parlance most people don't make that distinction between them and their terrestrial-bound relatives. Now, the term "turtle dove" is largely a fossil, usually heard of only in December.
So. . .
If the dove is the "turtle" to which you refer, then the answer is:
Turtles (turtle doves, anyway) coo.
mangeorge
08-18-2002, 12:32 PM
Originally posted by Anthracite
I can personally verify that the Alligator Snapping Turtle can hiss quite loudly (as well as jump completely off the ground when it is trying to kill you - and I have a photograph to prove it, too).
Jump? Turtles freakin' jump?
Sure they do. And I've got a Hoop Snake for ya. ;)
Peace,
mangeorge
Of course turtles jump! It was even a cover story in the Weekly World News (http://weeklyworldnews.com/) a few months ago. What more reliable cite could you find?
:p
Una Persson
08-18-2002, 04:26 PM
Originally posted by mangeorge
Jump? Turtles freakin' jump?
Sure they do. And I've got a Hoop Snake for ya. ;)
Peace,
mangeorge
They don't jump in the air vertically; it is a forward lunge with those powerful rear legs of theirs that carries them in a shallow parabola. I think at best he *just* cleared the ground. It was impressive to have an angry 1.5 foot wide turtle attacking me in that manner.
Oh yeah - the jaws go "CLICK" when they snap together, trying to remove your toes.
mangeorge
08-18-2002, 10:14 PM
That's reassuring, Anthracite. I had this vision of some huge tortoise lunging at your throat. Still, it must have been quite a surprise. I've seen snapping turtles on the tube, and they don't look like something you'd want to mess with.
I was messing with a possum in my backyard once, and he met my silliness with foul humor. He didn't play dead that time. I used to pester him all the time and I guess he just got tired my games. :D
I tried rjk's link, but they don't have an archive. I'll take Anthracite's word for it though.
Well, teemingONE (rhymes with hit-and-run ;) ), has your question been answered?
Peace,
mangeorge
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