# what sound do turtles make **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427 "2002-08-18T02:13:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/1 "2002-08-18T02:13:28Z")
well a wolf howls, a cat meows, a dog barks, what do turtles and tortoises do? ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/2 "2002-08-18T03:24:06Z")
ive heard it been called chirping, is it called chirping? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/3 "2002-08-18T03:27:34Z")
Our box turtle makes a hissing sound if the dog gets to close, otherwise he is totally silent. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/4 "2002-08-18T03:30:54Z")
Haven’t you seen _Master of Disguise_? They go “turtle, turtle, turtle”. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/5 "2002-08-18T04:15:07Z")
Snapping turtles hiss like snakes. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/6 "2002-08-18T04:31:29Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/7 "2002-08-18T04:38:45Z")
Play those sounds for your cat. He’ll (she’ll) love you for it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/8 "2002-08-18T08:04:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/9 "2002-08-18T12:54:24Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/10 "2002-08-18T17:26:20Z")
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_. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/11 "2002-08-18T17:32:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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 ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/12 "2002-08-18T20:00:05Z")
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? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/13 "2002-08-18T21:26:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*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. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sound-do-turtles-make/124427/14 "2002-08-19T03:14:04Z")
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. 😃 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