September 03, 1981 - The Friendly Box TurtleThe Friendly Box Turtle
September 3, 1981
The other day I was trying to remember
what my first real impression of the
natural world was. Surprisingly, I came up
with turtles. That sounds rather odd, but
that's the way it was. I'm sure there were
rabbits on the lawn and birds in the trees,
but I can't remember them making an
impression on me when I was real young.
I can remember turtles very clearly. My
Uncle Henry was building his house at that
time and the road alongside of it wasn't
even paved, just cleared with a car track
down the middle. Everyone was busy with
some phase of the building, but I guess I
seemed to get in the way and I was "sent
out" to find something to do. I'd probably
built enought boats out of the scrap lumber
to start a small fleet by then, so I turned to
the woods.
First one, then two and three -- by noon I
had four box turtles. I'd given each an
appropriate name and had rounded them
up in an enclosure made of sticks. I had
them climbing, pushing, even swimming,
and just about everything else a small boy
could conjure up. The befit were the races.
I'd set them up in the old dirt road,
alongside the house. Even the carpenters
had bets on their favorites. Those were the
days of simple enjoyments. The turtle
served me well in those early years
because it stirred my interest in the world
about me.
Later, I'd come across these colorful,
yellow- streaked, slow - moving tanks in the
woods. Often I'd find their empty, bleach-
ed -white shells and would wonder what
had happened to them and what had been
able to penetrate what seemed to be a
perfect fortress.
Box Turtle Well Protected
Our box turtle can protect itself better
than any other turtle because it has a
hinged lower shell -- called a plastron --
that enables it to do a superior job of
sealing itself in. Most other turtles can
close almost all the way but none as tight
SECOND SECTION
Tbef 6 TIMC5 SEPTEMBER 3, 1981
Friendly Box Turtle
was trying to remember
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as our box turtle. Once in a while you'll
find one that doesn't pull itself all the way
in no matter what you do and we're told
that this condition comes about by eating
too much, thereby making it vulnerable to
predators.
A box turtle is the only true tortoise or
land turtle in our state and yet he is not shy
of water. I have often found them in or
near ponds or our creeks. Once I found 15
to 20 of them in a small inlet over by
Nassau Point. No one knows exactly why
they congregate every once in a while, but
again through research in hot dry periods
they have been found to enjoy a swim to
keep cool. Guess they know a good thing as
well as we do.
Our turtle is not at all particular about
what it eats. A meal of earthworms, slugs,
insects, berries or even dead mice and
mushrooms seem to fit its taste. I know the
latter to be true for we once watched one
nibbling away at a mushroom in our back-
yard. There he was neck out - stretched,
sort of leisurely nibbling and swallowing;
turtles have no teeth and therefore do not
chew their food.
Just this summer my wife saw a box
turtle in our driveway having his Sunday
meal of a dead mouse. It had evidently
been run over in the driveway and
provided the turtle with a meal. How the
turtle found it, I don't know, but while he
was enjoying himself he, too, was in a
precarious position in the driveway so we
moved both turtle and carcass into the
woods.
COMMON BOX TURTLE- -After the female digs a hole with her hind
feet she lays five to seven eggs and can be seen here pushing one of the
eggs in the hole. Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
I, like so many others, have often
stopped to pick up a turtle crossing the
road. Highways are death traps for these
slow- moving creatures. This, along with
the clearing of land, mowing of our fields
and the general taking over by man, has
greatly reduced the population of all
turtles. Our freshwater turtles are partic-
ularly hard hit here on Long Island, where
it seems there are fewer and fewer wet
areas left for these interesting creatures.
The box turtle's eggs are laid in June,
having been carried by the female during
her winter hibernation. A hole is dug with
her hind feet about two inches deep and
five to seven white eggs are laid. Once
laid, the female covers them and tends
them no more. The keen noses of skunks,
raccoons, opossum, fox and others often
find their whereabouts and a hardy meal is
enjoyed but if undetected they develop in
the ground with the aid of the warm
summer sun and by September these
quarter -sized babies are ready to face the
world. Like the adults who hibernate
during the cold months of winter in the
ground, they too must dig down and
remain through the winter until the warm
rains of April arouse them.
It takes about five years for a turtle to
mature. How old they live is not precisely
known, but 30 -35 years is considered
average, with records going as long as 100
yeas. Roy Latham the great naturalist
from Orient, had written a paper some
years ago telling of some turtles he found
having initials and dates carved on their
shells. Assuming the data to be correct,
and he had every reason to believe it was
their ages ran from 50 -70 years old. One
had the slogan "No more rum" inscribed
on it and the date 1850, which according to
local history was just after a Temperance
Society was formed. Turtles generally
stay in a very small area and can be found
time and time again.
Our local turtles are a sign`of our rural
character and the less we see of them the
more we can be assured that this charac-
ter is surely changing. Terrapene carolina
ancestors go back nearly 200 million years.
Man is the biggest problem and so the next
time you see a turtle, pick it up and admire
it, remembering it is protected by law.
Check it and see if it has a sparkling red
eye, which designates it as a male. Should
you see one on the roadway, stop your car
and move it off. Turtles, like much of the
natural world today, need your help to
survive. Without this natural world, we
might as well be living on the moon.
PAULSTOUTENBURGH
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