Photo Credit: Me

 

Have you ever heard of twin telepathy? Ever wished that you could communicate telepathically? Well, Australian River Turtles have their own form of telepathy. Female turtles dig a hole in the sand of a beach to lay their eggs. They then cover the hole with sand to protect against predators and leave their eggs to mature. The baby turtles mature on their own without the help of a parent, obviously they develop a special bond because the eggs wait until everyone is ready to hatch.

 

When the eggs are in the hole in the sand, the eggs on the bottom are colder in temperature than the eggs above them. Therefore, the eggs on top mature faster than the eggs on the bottom. However, if some eggs mature faster than others, then why do all of the eggs hatch at the same time? The answer is that they wait for each other. The turtles communicate with each other while they are still in their eggs through the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the hole. When the eggs on top are more mature, they breath more, raising the level of carbon dioxide in the hole. The increase in carbon dioxide triggers a metabolic response in the underdeveloped eggs; it speeds up their metabolism. Ricky-John Spencer in Sydney, Australia believes that this communication can be attributed to evolution because if all of the turtles hatch and head to the ocean together, they have a lesser chance of being eaten by predators. Therefore, the eggs that hatched in a batches or around the same time had a higher chance of living than the eggs that hatched at all different times.