The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-04-20
TURTLES CAN LEARN.
ONE SHORTENED Il CROOKED
JOURNEY FROM NINETY
Minutes to Three on the Thirticth
Trial.

That the man forms the habit and the
habit forms the man we are all more or
less aware Whether this is equally
true of the lower order of creatures Is
at present an open question, though an
interesting series Of experiments with
small turtles which has recently been
conducted by scientific. men has in some
degree established the fact that in this
respect the lower creation does not
widely differ from men.
Turtles habits, like mems, are devel-
oped from the repetition of an act
They are performed automatically;
hence after many generations these
habits become what we call instincts.
The simplicity and slowness of the
turtle made it an admirable subject for
the experiments in question, which con-
sisted of placing the creature at one end
of a labyrinth and leaving it to find its
nest at the other.
Three motives combined to make the
turtle try to find it's way to the nest
namely, the natural desire to hide in
some dark, secluded place, the impulse
to escape from confinement and the de-
sire to get to a place of comfort.
On the first occasion the turtle took
an hour and thirty one minutes to find
the nest, but reduced it's time at each
attempt until only fifteen minutes were
occupied on the fifth journey to the
nest.
| In spite of this it's wanderings on the
first three occasions were apparently
series of aimless Commissions. After
! OF
more and more direct.
In all no fewer than fifty of these ex-
periments were made. The tenth trip
was made in four minutes five seconds.
with only a couple of mistakes in turn
ing.
The time of the twentieth journey was
four minutes, Of the sthirtieth three
minutes twenty seconds, the course
taken being almost direct, and of the
fiftieth trip four minutes exactly.
This, when you come to think Of 1t,
was pretty quick work, and.so the
learned scientists thought who watched
the unconscious turtles progress day
by day.
When, in the early stages, the animal
stopped and hesitated in his wander
ings, he was, according to some mem
bers of his scientific audience, thinking
about his environmental conditions"
but, according to others, he was merely
stopping to get "sensory data--that
is to say, to look and smell.
The blind alleys worried the poor tur-
tie tremendously at first, as did the in
cline, though after achieving the thir-
tieth trip he got into the habit Of saw
ing time by dropping over the side of
the latter instead of walking all the
way down 1t.
This action is an illustration of the
way in which an advantageous habit
may grow by accretion, as it were, I'M
til it seems as If it must have been the
result of reasoning.
Yet had the turtle in the original In
stance stopped to Judge and draw. infer
ences as to the way to escape. instead
of persistentlS moving prom place to
place. 1t would probably have remained
in the pen an indifinite period.
AS it was, the wandering impulse led
by chance to the animal finding the
acme of turtle pleasure-its nest.
The satisfaction thus received was
impressed on the turtles vital mechan-
ISM, so lHdL luGlc wax u tCANSfiNS N.iS
beginning Of habit toward repetition
of it,
The turtle happened to crawl over the
edge of the incline on the thirtieth
trip, and, finding that this harmless
process enabled it to reach it's nest
quicker, continued the act thus form
ing habit.
Thus by the aid of such humble crea-
lures as turtles we may learn some
thing of interest, having bearing on
human habits and reconsideration Elk
press.