London, Nov 30 (IANS) Baby turtles can communicate with one another before they hatch and can arrange to emerge from their eggs at the same time, an Australian study has claimed.
The study of the Murray short-necked turtle found that embryos synchronised their hatching to prevent smaller turtles emerging alone and being attacked by predators such as foxes, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.
The unhatched turtles may be able to sense each other’s heart vibrations or detect gases emitted from the breath of other turtles.
Ricky Spencer, a co-author of the new study from the University of Western Study, said: ‘They might be cueing in on heart rates. They are all touching each other within the nests so there might be vibrations there.’
‘A nest environment is pretty much an enclosed cavity where gas exchange might be a cue as well. They breathe, so if you get increases in carbon dioxide within a nest they might be cueing in on that.’
