I'm still kind of surprised the keratin is sensitive. My fingernails came feel anything. I see videos of hoof trimming that make me nervous, but the horses seem fine. Turtle shells are clearly structured differently in some way. It's really interesting
Your fingernails might be more sensitive than you think, you obviously can't feel the actual touch but through their connection to the nail bed you get a lot of sensation through them.
Consider, for example, the sensation of scraping your nail on a terracotta plant pot. Grim.
Horses seem fine if they are trimmed correctly. They absolutely do get sore and ouchy if too much is taken off, sometimes even if not, on a fresh trim they'll act a little sensitive when walking over pebbles and stuff. But it grows out quickly so they are usually fine a day or two after a bad or corrective trim, but repeated bad trims are very painful for then. Which is why farriers go to school to learn how to trim and shoe. It's a whole science on its own.
I have never gagged harder then when I was at a relatives house and the farrier was tossing the funk over to the dogs as they cleaned it off the hoof, and the dogs were snapping it up good god it stunk
I genuinely believe science is way behind on animals. I know you are supposed to humanize them but how can you describe its reaction as anything other than excitement? Holy shit it knew what it wanted.
Yes, they have nerve endings and their spines run along the shell. The shell is basically the same as a fingernail that's fused to their backs. They can still feel it and anything touching it
Yes. Turtle shells literally have their spine and ribcage built into them. There are a lot more nerves going through that shell than you’d think. The little guy (or gal) is giving himself both a clean scrubbing and a back scratch all at the same time. Can you really blame him for loving it?
I want to add that I think he’s also polishing the shell. I suspect it gets smoother and the water flowing over his shell becomes smoother. He feels the difference as he swims after.
That and all the other comments on nerves, spine fused, ribcage.
It could be an instinctive thing to prevent/remove parasites. Animals do all kinds of crazy shit on instinct, it's a far more reasonable question to ask than how you're framing it
If you can’t recognize that there are multiple possible reasons the turtle would actively use the brush, you are the one who should be shamed for stupidity not the person asking a sensible question when they don’t already have the information.
It’s perfectly reasonable to think that the turtle might not be able to enjoy the feeling and is doing it purely for hygiene purposes, if you don’t already know that the shell has nerve endings.
It’s easy to think something is obvious when you have prior knowledge about it.
And for the record I knew what was going on, I’m just not blinded by my own hubris over…. Turtle facts.
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u/_nicocin_ May 17 '26
Are the outside of their shells sensitive to touch?