#1495 · 🦎 reptiles

Common Box Turtle

🇳🇱 Gewone doosschildpad ·Terrapene carolina

VUvulnerable 🦎 Reptiles 📍 in Europe, not in NL

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Richard Coldiron · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Richard Coldiron · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Ryan Jones · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © John Serrao · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. Tennessee, US:© Nicholas Lynch · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. Maryland, US:© Michael Ellis · CC BY 4.0
7. United States:© Mark McKnight · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © Michael Rice · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. Alabama, US:© Roger Birkhead · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
10. New Jersey, US:© Joseph Salmieri Jr. · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The common box turtle ( Terrapene carolina ) is a species of box turtle with six existing subspecies. It is found throughout the eastern United States and Mexico. The box turtle has a distinctive hinged lowered shell (the box) that allows it to completely enclose itself. Its upper jaw is long and curved.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 112,737iNaturalist observations
threat VUvulnerable

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
112,737 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.