Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Eastern Box Turtle (female)

Terrapene carolina

Description:

Shell 12.5 cm (5 in) long x 10.5 cm (4.3 in) wide. You can tell it's a female because her eyes are brown (with a hint of orange), the bottom of her shell ("plastron") is flat, and the top of shell is a high dome. Males usually have red eyes, a slightly concave plastron, and a flatter shell shape. At 5" long, she's a mature adult, able to reproduce. (Box turtles don't reach sexual maturity until they're 7-10 years old. Box turtles have been known to live well beyond 50!). Since it's springtime and we had a rainstorm recently, she might have been looking for a place to lay her eggs, or just leaving a new nest. Males come out to look for females on rainy nights in spring. Notice the hinge on the plastron (shown in photos 4 and 5), which enables the turtle to close its shell completely, an ability unique to box turtles.

Habitat:

My backyard (suburban/semi-rural area). Found walking along in the grass, towards the woods.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

Mandy Hollman
Spotted by
Mandy Hollman

Georgia, USA

Spotted on Apr 5, 2012
Submitted on Apr 5, 2012

Related Spottings

Florida box turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri Eastern Box Turtle Box turtle Box Turtle

Nearby Spottings

Inch worm Common Gluphisia Caterpillar Spotting Parasitoid Wasp Larvae on Caterpillar
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team