Eastern Box Turtle

The eastern box turtle is a subspecies of hinge-shelled turtle commonly known as a box turtle, native to the Eastern United States and classified in the pond turtle family Emydidae rather than among true tortoises, though it is predominantly terrestrial. It has a high, dome-shaped carapace with a hinged plastron that lets it close its shell completely, shell coloring typically brownish or black with yellowish or orangish radiating patterns, and adults measuring 4.5 to 8 inches in length. Its range extends from southern Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan south to northern Florida and west through eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. It is an opportunistic omnivore eating earthworms, snails, slugs, grubs, beetles, caterpillars, grasses, weeds, fallen fruit, berries, mushrooms, flowers, and carrion, with young individuals mostly carnivorous and adults leaning more herbivorous. In 2011 the IUCN documented a widespread, persistent, and ongoing gradual decline of the species exceeding 32 percent over three generations, downgrading it from near threatened to vulnerable.