Help Save the Box Turtles!

It’s box turtle season! Be on the lookout for them, especially after rain storms and in the morning. While we’ve discussed some very interesting details about our eastern box turtle study, we haven’t discussed the box turtle basics.

Did you know that Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) are in decline throughout the United States? They are listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). In North Carolina they are listed as a priority action species, which just means we need more data on them before we can protect them. Historically, box turtles were very common. You could ask anyone if they had seen box turtles, and the answer was always “yes”. Now, it’s fairly uncommon to see a box turtle. Think about the last time you saw one in the wild, if ever.

Unfortunately, in North Carolina, due to the lack of protective status for the box turtle, it’s legal to keep a box turtle as a pet. As box turtle conservationists, we recommend against this. There are many factors influencing the decline of the box turtle, but one is the pet industry. The box turtle is a cute, harmless, and charismatic reptile that seems easy enough to care for. Unfortunately, not only do most people not care for them correctly, every adult turtle that is taken out of the wild leaves one less reproductively mature turtle in the wild to help populate future generations. Many times people, just like you, think they are doing a good thing and “saving” a turtle. They may have found a juvenile that they thought was going to be eaten, or an adult that was crossing the road. Believe it or not, the turtle is better left where it is than becoming a pet. When we teach programs about box turtles and children say “But I want one, they’re so cute!” I mention that there are turtle rescues, just like there are dog and cat rescues. You can adopt a captive-bred turtle which gives that turtle a loving home, and also allows our wild turtles to stay wild.

I want to introduce you to our 4 eastern box turtle ambassadors, who all have an important lesson to teach:

Vinny:

Unfortunately, Vinny’s story is a common one. One day, Vinny decided that he wanted to cross a busy highway in Virginia. A nice person stopped on the side of the road to “help” Vinny and then brought him back to Fayetteville, NC. After researching a little bit about box turtles, he discovered that they had made a huge mistake by taking Vinny from his home. If they released Vinny into their backyard as was planned he would likely perish. Why? Because box turtles have very small home ranges and their internal compass tells them to head back home! They are likely to encounter even more roads and they don’t know where any of the food or water is. Unfortunately, the man couldn’t remember exactly where he found Vinny, so the best course of action was to place him in an educational facility. Fortunately, the man called us to ask what could be done. We took Vinny in as a wildlife ambassador so he can hopefully prevent the future mistaken kidnapping of other box turtles!

Bob:

Bob’s story is another important lesson. Bob was taken out of the wild by a lady in Maryland. Bob became her pet, but when she could no longer take care of him, the lady gave Bob to her sister in North Carolina. Like most people who take in box turtles as pets, Bob’s new “owner” had no idea that Bob was a box turtle and that he lived on land, not in water. She kept him in a bath tub for at least a couple months before contacting PWC. Fortunately, Bob was still doing okay, but he wouldn’t have lived much longer in a bathtub. He is still a shy box turtle, and rightfully so. Yet again, he educates the public on why it’s not a great idea to make wild box turtles pets!

Sheldon & Shelly:

Shelly and Sheldon were rescues from a Reptile Rescue in NC. In the 1970s, a lady had a couple of box turtles. Forty years later she had 100 box turtles, and no one to take care of them. The Reptile Rescue took all 100 turtles and has placed most into good homes. Although we believe Shelly and Sheldon were born in captivity, their parents may have not been. It’s a reminder of how many box turtles a reproductively-mature turtle can have in the wild. Although most hatchling turtles are eaten by predators, a few of them will survive and continue to reproduce and add to the population. Taking just one turtle out of the wild can result in the loss of many more turtles.

It’s just a reminder of how critical it is to help conserve the eastern box turtle. They have been an iconic part of our history and culture and we hope that future generations will be able to appreciate them as much as we have. Unfortunately they have a hard road ahead of them. With continued over-population of humans on the planet, we will continue to destroy the forests in which they live. We will continue to make new homes, shopping malls, and schools. This means more roads. All of these things could result in the complete loss of a beloved reptile. However, with your support and with continued research of box turtles, they have hope. With your support we can continue to monitor their populations and push for protection of these species in North Carolina and beyond.

Links:

• Help! I found a box turtle!
• Citizen Science box turtle project

In addition to using radio telemetry to track Eastern box turtles in Leigh Farm Park, we are also part of a statewide study called The Box Turtle Connection. This study was created by two professors at UNCG, Ann Somers and Catherine Matthews. This study hopes to study box turtle population sizes in NC for at least 100 years. Our current data will serve as baseline estimates to help us determine if future populations are increasing or decreasing. For this study we mark our turtles with a nail file on their marginal (outer) scutes. This lets us know which turtles we have seen before, and which are new to the project.

Conservation Coordinator, Sara Steffen, recently presented at the bi-annual Box Turtle Connection meeting and discussed the box turtles that reside in Leigh Farm Park. Sara commented that “over 5 years, we have found 284 turtles in our 100-acre park. We have marked 161 turtles, which is the second highest number of turtles found in the sites that are participating in the Box Turtle Connection! We have recaptured 121 turtles that were previously marked. These numbers help us determine the population estimate of the turtles in our park.” While we don’t have a population estimate yet, we hope to have one soon. Every year we keep finding new turtles, which is a good sign for the turtles at Leigh Farm Park.

Interestingly, at the conference we discovered that we have a high male to female sex ratio in the park. That means for every 1 female we find in the park, we find 2 males! This data was unique to our park and one other park in Durham, NC. We don’t know what this means yet, but that’s why we need to keep researching! A potential thought is that males are more vibrantly colored than females, so perhaps they are more obvious in the forests – especially to summer camp children. Unlike humans, turtles’ sex is dependent on temperature in the nest. The cooler eggs (usually at the bottom of the nest) will become males, whereas the warmer eggs (usually at the top of the nest) will become females. Perhaps something about our site is affecting the temperatures in the nest.

Due to the high number of turtles in the park, we’re increasingly concerned that our site is not a good location to test out our re-introduction program.  We want to make sure that any research we conduct won’t have a negative effect on our current population. With any species, re-introduction of individuals can cause more harm than good, especially if you are overpopulating a specific area.  The best location for re-introduction would be a site that has the resources a box turtle would need: cover, space, food, and water. Our next goal is to find this site.

Thank you for your continued support of our Box Turtle Project! Your donations help support future research of our vulnerable eastern box turtles!

Links:

• The Box Turtle Connection Website
• Become a box turtle citizen scientist!