This native species is the official amphibian of North Carolina. Each turtle has a shell as distinct as a thumbprint.
by Mike Dunn

In all likelihood, you’ve been in this classic scenario: You’re driving down the road and see a turtle attempting to cross. Do you stop?

What I do is often dictated by the other circumstances: Is it a country road with little traffic or a busy highway? How far across the road is the turtle? How risky is it to try to pull over? There is not always an easy answer, but whenever it seems safe enough, I do try to stop. I’ll pull well off the side of the road, turn on my flashers and move the turtle to the side of the road in the direction it was traveling. That last part is very important — unless it’s unsafe to cross the road, place the turtle on the side of the road to which it was headed. They are determined little creatures! If you take them back to where they came from, they’ll try to cross the road again. 

The most common species we “rescue” in our area is the Eastern box turtle. They can typically grow to be 4 to 8 inches in shell length as adults and have a more highly domed top of the shell (carapace) than other species of local turtles. The bottom of the shell (plastron) is hinged and provides the box turtle with its unique form of defense from predators: it can completely close the plastron (like a tight “box”) leaving no part of its body exposed. (Unfortunately, that does not protect the turtle from threats like automobiles.)

The shell color of the Eastern box turtle is variable, but usually is mostly brown with a yellow or orange pattern. Each box turtle has a unique carapace pattern, much like our fingerprints. Over the last few years, at the suggestion of our friend Jerry, I have been photographing the shells of any box turtle we rescue or find while we are out walking. After taking several photos, I realized I should be taking a shot from directly above the turtle to make them easier to compare with one another. 

Of the 14 box turtles I have photographed in the past couple of years within walking distance of our house, there have been only two repeats. That means we have had at least 12 individual turtles in the woods along our half-mile stretch of neighborhood road the past few years, which is a pretty good number considering these turtles tend to have a small home range, consisting of only a few acres.

I also record the sex of each turtle (it would be useful and fun to record their length as well, but I never have a measuring device with me). Male box turtles tend to have brighter coloration on their skin and bright red or orange eyes while females’ eyes are usually brown. Males have stout curved claws on their rear legs. The plastron of a male box turtle is concave (with a “dent” in it) that comes in handy during breeding, allowing the male to mount the carapace of the female. Females usually have a flat bottom shell. 

For both sexes, the shell is covered with a layer of protective plates called scutes. The scutes show the distinctive colors and patterns of the turtle and are made of keratin, same as our fingernails and hair. Unlike many aquatic turtles, box turtles do not shed their scutes as they grow. Instead, the scutes continue to grow as the turtle does and form growth rings, much like a tree.

The rings are indicative of periods of growth and do not necessarily correspond to years. Unlike what I am experiencing as I get older — more and more wrinkles! — a box turtle’s shell tends to get smoother with age, as the ridges get worn. And unlike the cartoons I watched as a kid — where a turtle would crawl out of its shell— a turtle’s shell is actually part of its body; the ribs and backbone are fused to the shell as part of the turtle’s skeleton. 

Box turtles are active from spring through fall in our area. In winter, they bury themselves in the soil or leaf litter and enter a period of lower metabolic rate and inactivity called brumation. Mature females excavate a nest in the spring by using their hind legs to dig a small hole in the soil. One June morning several years ago, I found a female digging a nest at the edge of our yard. I watched her for over an hour before I had to leave. When I returned a few hours later, she was gone and had camouflaged the nest site by scraping soil and leaves over it. 

Females can store sperm for several years, giving them the advantage that they don’t need to mate every year to produce offspring. They usually lay two to six eggs, which hatch in a few months, although some may overwinter and hatch the next spring. Baby box turtles are a little bigger than a quarter and are targeted by a variety of predators, from raccoons to birds and snakes. It takes a few years for the hinge on the plastron to develop, making them even more vulnerable as juveniles. Because of this, they are quite secretive and seldom seen. 

Eastern box turtles have a varied diet including fruits, seeds, mushrooms (even ones poisonous to us), carrion and many small invertebrates like earthworms, snails and slugs. They are thought to be important spore and seed dispersers for fungi and certain wildflowers, especially Mayapple. Apparently, passing through the gut of a box turtle greatly enhances the germination success of Mayapple seeds!

Another amazing thing about Eastern box turtles is their longevity. It may take five to 10 years to reach sexual maturity, and they regularly live over 50 years — some have even been known to live well past 100! Unfortunately, Eastern box turtle populations are declining, due primarily to human activities including collection as pets, casualties from vehicles and lawn mowers, and habitat loss and fragmentation due to development. Though they are long-lived, the fact that they are slow to mature, lay relatively few eggs and experience high predation rates on eggs and young makes them vulnerable. 

Luckily, there are a lot of organizations trying to help these charismatic reptiles. Several groups in North Carolina — including Box Turtle Connection, Herpmapper and Neighborhood Box Turtle Watch — are doing long-term research projects monitoring box turtle populations, some involving the use of trained dogs to locate the turtles for study. And if you find an injured turtle, you can locate your nearest licensed wildlife rehabilitator for help. In the Triangle area, you can contact the Turtle Rescue Team at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. A good friend of mine  found a turtle with a damaged shell and the team did a great job of repairing and rehabbing it for release. According to their website, they received 471 Eastern box turtles as patients in 2024 alone!

The Eastern box turtle was named our official state reptile by the N.C. General Assembly in 1979. Box turtles are the only fully terrestrial turtle found across North Carolina (except for the Outer Banks). 

As I am writing this, it’s raining heavily. I’ll be especially alert for turtles this afternoon and tomorrow, as they seem to move more after rains. To help preserve this iconic species, please encourage people to slow down and be observant when driving and scan the road for turtles (and other animals). If it’s safe, give it a lift to the side of the road it was headed to, and please don’t take them home or relocate them. Turtles have relatively small home ranges where they know the food sources and good places to spend the winter, and they don’t do well in captivity. 

Let’s help all our turtles live long and healthy lives in the wild. 

This article originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.