1. lifelines
  2. Tortoise smarts

Tortoise smarts

By dr. dolittle on August 12, 2016.

It must be Friday. I found myself perusing YouTube videos and I came across these showing pet tortoises that have figured out how to solve some interesting problems such as:

Using the doggie door to enter a house...

If that does not work, many have figured out how to just open the back door...

Some have even figured out how to open the refrigerator...

After watching these videos, I naturally went in pursuit of any information I could find as to whether tortoise intelligence has been tested scientifically. In support of many pet owner claims, tortoises do exhibit signs of intelligence. In fact, a study showed that red-footed tortoises could solve simple touch screen activities that resulted in a reward (who doesn't like strawberries?). In addition, the animals were able to apply the knowledge learned to real world tasks. Check out the video from LiveScience:

The ability to open the door alone makes these tortoises smarter than my dog.

Just in case you might be wondering what the difference is between a turtle and a tortoise, I found this handy guide as well:

Image result for turtle vs tortoise Explanation of the difference between turtles and tortoises from: http://awesci.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/turtle-vs-tortoise.jpg
Tags
Life Science
intelligence
Perception
smart
tortoise
touch screen
turtle

More like this

Monday Pets: Cold Blooded Cognition
She: "What are you writing about?" Me: "Cognition in cold-blooded animals." She: "Hot." Most people who study cognition focus on mammals or birds. But I hope I've convinced you that other animals are important to investigate as well. One research group at the University of Vienna likes cold-blooded…
Social Cognition in a Non-Social Reptile? Gaze-Following in Red-Footed Tortoises
Have you ever been at a party with lots of people chatting away, when for some unexplainable reason you felt compelled to turn and look at the front door of your friend's house...and just as you were looking, someone was just coming in from outside and closing the door? You couldn't have heard the…
Madagascar Reptiles In Trouble
From the Wildlife Conservation Society: Unless major conservation measure are enacted, Madagascar's turtles and tortoises will continue to crawl steadily toward extinction, according to a recent assessment by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other groups. With their habitat shrinking and…
Physics of Linerider IV: Friction?
Friction in Line Rider Is there friction in Line Rider? Does it function as physics would expect? To test this, I set up a simple track: ![Page 6 1](http://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/page-6-1…) Basically, a slope with a flat part to start with and to end with. Let me…