Herman's hibernation and memory.

[camerart]

Hi,
I have a Herman's tortoise, here's a photo, with her friend sunbathing, last year. (slow worm)

All summer she lives in a greenhouse, with a 'cat flap' at the rear. This isn't a natural route, and I had to teach her.
Late summer she went to her stone built cave, where she can dig down for the winter. She hibernated from early October to early March.
I wanted to know if she would remember her summer residence, and the first day out I found her in the greenhouse, so she must have remembered.
I find this really interesting, and hope you do to.
Cheers, Camerart.

 

[KarenSoCal]

I agree with you on the memory. They remember very well.

You will find this article very interesting.

Forget Elephants. Giant Tortoises Can Learn New Tricks And Remember Them For Years

Giant tortoises are not as slow in the head as they are on the ground, new research suggests.

www.sciencealert.com

 

[camerart]

I agree with you on the memory. They remember very well.

You will find this article very interesting.

Forget Elephants. Giant Tortoises Can Learn New Tricks And Remember Them For Years

Giant tortoises are not as slow in the head as they are on the ground, new research suggests.

www.sciencealert.com

Hi K,
Your article was interesting, and I didn't know there had been tortoise tests, on those big ones.

Yesterday, I was in the greenhouse with Tanya at my feet, a bit slow, as it's chilly.
After a while she went to window looked out for a few minutes, then went in her box, and 2 minutes later there was a hailstorm, and I had to wait till it stopped to go back inside. Was it time for bed, or did she know the weather was going to change.

I once had a job installing pig feeding systems.
I was in a sty, with my power tools on a step ladder, at one end of the sty. The pigs, being inquisitive, started nudging the ladder, so I tapped them on the nose, till they went back to a line. I had to go outside and push a cable through the rear of the sty. I went almost out, and the pigs went to the ladder, so I tapped them back repeatedly, till they didn't cross the line. I went outside and pushed the cable through, then came back inside, and pushed through the pigs, pulled the cable the length of the sty, to where I was working, and the pigs were still at the line. I carried on working, and the pigs slowly moved forward, and started on the ladder again.
I was quite surprised how easy they were to train, and if I hadn't been working, would have trained some of them to do tricks.

What memory or other test should I try on Tanya?
Camerart.

 

[KarenSoCal]

What memory or other test should I try on Tanya?
Camerart.

I've heard that pigs are very bright. It seems your experiences support that!

A useful lesson is target training. You use an object, say a colored disc on the end of a stick, to train the tort to follow the disc. Very useful when someone wants a huge sulcata to go where the keeper wants.

If you try it, you must post videos! ?