3-Feb-2026
A #hearing test for the world’s rarest sea #turtle
Little is known about how sensitive the Kemp’s ridley #seaTurtle is to human #noise.
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1114627
It's a relatively recent discovery that turtles use #acoustic #communication, I remember covering it in this feature on #soundscapeEcology and #evolution: https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2022/12/soundscape-evolution.html

A hearing test for the world’s rarest sea turtle
In JASA, researchers evaluate the hearing sensitivity of a group of Kemp’s ridley turtles to understand their vulnerability to human-caused noise. To evaluate their hearing range, the researchers placed noninvasive sensors on the turtles’ heads and measured the electrical signals transmitted along their auditory nerves. They played sounds ranging 50-1,600 hertz and found that the turtles could hear best at around 300 hertz. Their hearing started to decline at higher frequencies.















