Smart tortoises doing dumb things

[CourtneyAndCarl]

Okay Carl is a goober... I fed him his afternoon meal about an hour ago, I go downstairs for something else and see him trying, and failing, to eat a dried up day old leaf crumb that I must have missed when I was cleaning up his scraps. Then when I picked him up to tell him he was a goober, he sniffed my hand for a really long time before deciding to take a chomp. All the while, his untouched dinner was still in his food dish... dummy acts like I'm starving him!!

Just a few days ago, he "met a new friend" and got very territorial over it, too

Anyone else have a little "Einstein" that occasionally forgets that he/she is supposed to be an intelligent creature?

 

[l0velesly]

Haha, cute... and yes, I don't think any of my torts can recognize themselves in the mirror

 

[wellington]

Very cute. My leopard just stares at himself in the mirror. However, when I am changing his soaking water, if he starts getting squirrelly, that's when I have him look in the mirror. It calms him right down.

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

Very cute. My leopard just stares at himself in the mirror. However, when I am changing his soaking water, if he starts getting squirrelly, that's when I have him look in the mirror. It calms him right down.

Same here! Carl just stares for a bit and eventually starts trying to ram into his reflection

 

[Laura]

dried up leaves are ok, as long is its not old and moldy..

 

[lynnedit]

Carl's as smart boy- they eat dried weeds in the wild...

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Haha When I put my baby Leopard in front of the mirror he just looked at himself like "who's that tortoise you've just replaced me with?" as he looks at him(self) from a side angle

 

[Tom]

I've just never thought of torts as smart. I work with all sorts of animals all day every day, and tortoises have never impressed me with their brain power. I love them. Don't get me wrong. They just don;t seem to be the Einsteins of the animal world.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

I've just never thought of torts as smart. I work with all sorts of animals all day every day, and tortoises have never impressed me with their brain power. I love them. Don't get me wrong. They just don;t seem to be the Einsteins of the animal world.

True, true. I agree, those were similar to my thoughts (with the exception of I don't work with a bunch of animals everyday ). Of course, we still love 'em

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

I feel like someone on this forum was once comparing their intelligence to dogs, but I dunno.

As for the dried leaf, it wasn't that he was eating it that got me, it was that he was getting a mouth full of dirt in the process but still failing to pick up the little leaf

 

[arotester]

you shouldn't worry until it's eating and being active.Torts are not smart creatures ,ask me when they eat small rocks and get impacted, but we still love them.

 

[Tom]

Sometimes they have trouble picking up their food because their eyes have been damaged by the wrong bulbs. I have seen this many times with babies kept under coil type CFL bulbs.

They eat rocks and pebbles due to nutrient or mineral imbalances in most cases. The addition of a good mineral supplement to the diet has stopped this obsessive rock eating behavior in every case that I have seen, including my own.

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

I think tortoises are not the smartest creatures out there, but their quiet beauty and calm demeanor have won my heart. I think that they are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for, but on the intelligence scale they are probably not ranked among the highest compared to other animals.

 

[Moozillion]

I love your viewpoint!!!

 

[cherylim]

Emrys doesn't seem smart at all. He's a total idiot.

I did expect more intelligence considering how long tortoises have been around, but he'll climb against things until he slips and tumbles, then keep trying. He has no sense of danger - it's a wonder tortoises aren't extinct.

 

[Baoh]

Depends. The learning by watching others phenomenon is interesting, as is the maze navigation.

 

[lovelyrosepetal]

I am not familiar with what you are referring to Baoh. I would love more information, either a link or a different thread or just a brief explanation. I am sure you are referring to experiments but I am not sure if I have read up on them. I think it sounds very interesting and seems appropriate to this thread.

 

[CourtneyAndCarl]

I don't think Carl has bad eye sight, he was biting in the right spot every time, just seemed like he was burying the leaf more and more every time. Unless he was kept under a coil UVB before he got to me, which I highly doubt, he's never even seen one.

 

[Baoh]

I am not familiar with what you are referring to Baoh. I would love more information, either a link or a different thread or just a brief explanation. I am sure you are referring to experiments but I am not sure if I have read up on them. I think it sounds very interesting and seems appropriate to this thread.

Some can learn from watching the behaviors of other tortoises. Some can navigate mazes on a level comparable to rodents. Most of what I have seen has been performed with redfoot tortoises, but that is about test subject selection and not necessarily anything special having to do with carbonaria (which would take head-to-head comparisons for determination).

There is at least one study for each of these and I have not run any searches as of late for things I may not yet have seen.

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I don't think Carl has bad eye sight, he was biting in the right spot every time, just seemed like he was burying the leaf more and more every time. Unless he was kept under a coil UVB before he got to me, which I highly doubt, he's never even seen one.

Some animals simply have bum eyes.

 

[LuckysGirl007]

Very cute. My leopard just stares at himself in the mirror. However, when I am changing his soaking water, if he starts getting squirrelly, that's when I have him look in the mirror. It calms him right down.

Because of the beautifulness of himself, I'm sure! Like my 17 year old daughter I guess!

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Same here! Carl just stares for a bit and eventually starts trying to ram into his reflection

This made me literally LOL!

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I'm assuming dogs and chimps (?) are maybe at the top of the list. Could you list your opinion of the top 5 or so? I'm just curious.

I also think torts are a bit intelligent. Considering they have to warm their bodies to digest their food and what not. It amazes me that just by providing the things for my babies they are able to instinctively know what to do or where they need to go.

I found it hilarious that Carl decided to taste our hand tough! Sorry...I know it's awful! But I can't help myself.

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Sorry, the list of smartest animals question was for Tom. I meant to quote him but it didn't work out I guess.