[two_third last=”no”]

[title size=”2″]Three-Toed Box Turtle[/title]

The three-toed box turtle is part of the Emydidae family that includes basking, marsh, and box turtles. This turtle can be identified by its colored eyes, which are red in males and yellow-brown in females, and by the orange coloring on their heads. This turtle has a dark-colored, high-domed carapace—the term for its upper shell—and a hinged plastron, which is its undershell. The upper shell is usually olive or brown colored with light yellow or orange lines on the scutes, the scales of the carapace. The lower shell is mostly yellow with some brown markings. Males and females can be told apart by their plastrons and tails; males have a thick tail and concave plastron, while in comparison females have a smaller-sized tail and a flat plastron. As their name suggests, the three-toed box turtle has three hind toes, however on rare occasion members of this species have been found to have four toes. Their shells can grow to 4 and a half or 5 inches long.

The three-toed box turtle can be found most commonly in the forests of the Ozarks, although sometimes they are also seen near the edges of forests and in fields that contain many bushes. They feed on earthworms and insects as young turtles but become more vegetarian as they become mature. The three-toed box turtle can easily live up to 50 years and even up to 80 years if it does not succumb to predation as infants or death related to human interference as adults, such as automobile accidents.

[/two_third]

Terrapene Carolina triunguis

[one_third last=”yes”]

[/one_third]