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Project Noah Nature School
Terrapene carolina carolina
I went out looking for box turtles and other herps today with my wife and a college today for a project to remove the animals from inside an area that's silt fenced where a construction project will be starting soon. Towards the end of the afternoon we were walking by the silt fence on our way out and came across this nice box turtle. The last picture shows the underside of this young turtle. Like rings on a tree, these turtles can be aged by counting the growth rings, and this one is 9 years old. This doesn't work with old turtles, since these rings are worn smooth.
Spotted on Oct 25, 2014
Submitted on Oct 26, 2014
6 Comments
Leuba, my wife has been radio tracking the box turtles at this location, about 2 dozen of them and this is a new one. It was moved a couple hundred meters from the fence, near a red maple swamp where other turtles are known to overwinter.
Attractive little turtle ! It's good to know that he/she is going to a similar environment.
They're safely outside the construction area and can't get past the fence. They should be fine, since the habitat is identical to where they were.
Can they get back through the fence, or are they outside the construction zone for good now? Hope they can establish home ranges in their new areas fine!
Thanks Ashley. This was the 4th box turtle moved from the construction area and next week when the weather warms again, the search will continue. Today we also found a black racer, garter snake, a few frogs and a red-backed salamander that were moved outside the fence.
What a vibrant little guy! Glad you were able to get him away from the construction site :)