On the way home from field archery a few months ago, I spotted this bad boy about to get squished on the road. We took him home for lack of a good place to release him, and I snapped this shot with the Nikon in one hand and steering wheel in the other. (On a scale of difficulty, it was somewhere between eating a Big Mac and changing a CD while driving.)
Anyway, Mr. Turtle got to play in my bathtub for a few hours and he surprised us all by screeching the entire time. Yes, it’s true. Turtles screech. Eeek eeeeek eeeeeeeek. So the next time some hippie starts crying about the trees screaming (as opposed to the Screaming Trees), you can tell him it was probably just a turtle he stepped on.
Raising a family in Thailand // Documenting Issan food, culture, music, and people
I’ve never heard turtles make noises, other than hissing….perhaps it’s just the squeeky japanese species in your neck of the woods that vocalizes?
I looked out the computer room window yesterday and saw our wee turtle crawling from under the deck towards the pond. It’s warm enough now that he’s always taking walks…checking him out, there was a small tooth hole (‘coons?)in his shell. The people at Prehistoric Pets (.com) checked him out and he’s okay, well-fed and does not scream! No sissy turtles here!!
He looks happy in the picture. I think it would be especially creepy to hear a smiling turtle scream.
I heard two turtles doing the nasty at the San Diego Zoo once. Sounded like a locomotive laying on brakes. I still have nightmares about it.
Thanks for the comment, Anna. I just found your blog recently and it’s really sick sometimes. Gotta love that.