We didn’t know exactly what made an Eastern Box Turtle an Eastern Box Turtle, so we looked it up.
The eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is a subspecies within a group of hinge-shelled turtles, normally called box turtles. T. c. carolina is native to an eastern part of the United States.
The eastern box turtle is one of two species of box turtles found in the United States. It is the only “land turtle” found in North Carolina, where it is the state reptile. Box turtles are slow crawlers, extremely long lived, slow to mature, and have relatively few offspring per year. These characteristics, along with a propensity to get hit by cars and agricultural machinery, make all box turtle species particularly susceptible to anthropogenic, or human-induced, mortality.
That last bit makes it pretty worrisome that one just escaped the Nature Center in Inwood Hill Park. We know he must be okay so far, though, because he’s keeping not just one, but two Twitter accounts.
Since the turtle is loose Uptown, we expect one of our New York readers to catch it. Let us know where you’ve seen it. Send us pictures on our Facebook page of the turtle’s exploits. We hear tell the turtle has made it as far as Washington Heights, where it was seen eating garlic fries at Locksmith.
(Note: Joking aside, if you actually do see the turtle, contact the proper authorities…)
UPDATE: Remezcla graphics guru Katia Rodriguez spotted the Turtle on the set of Juan Bago’s Dominis in the Heights video.
UPDATE 2: The turtle himself has provided us with a picture taken outside of Locksmith.
UPDATE 3: Remezcla designer Christopher Rodriguez-Bautista saw the turtle holding court Uptown.
UPDATE 4: Casey Wurzbach has spotted the turtle hidden away in a NY1 shot, and about to chow down on some Chimichury…