This is an Eastern Box Turtle, which is fairly common to our area -- they can vary widely in terms of shell size, pattern and color. Male box turtles, like the one above, have red eyes and flattened shells, while the females have brown eyes and more rounded shells. They are long lived (up to 100 years!), but they are slow to mature and reproduce, and threatened by loss of habitat and by human activity (primarily automobiles and pet trading). Because of their fragile state, they should never be removed from nature and turned into pets. More info here and here.
Try to be like the turtle -- at ease in your own shell.
--Bill Copeland
Try to be like the turtle -- at ease in your own shell.
--Bill Copeland
Thanks for teaching me so much about the natural habitat in an area I grew up in.
ReplyDeleteI feel sad that I may have kept a box turtle as a pet in my childhood. :(
I never knew how to tell male and female apart! It is nice to learn something new...we seen one a couple weeks ago when we were mushrooming.
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