With the Wild Things: Box Turtles

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|a With the Wild Things: Box Turtles |h [electronic resource].

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|a Ft. Myers, Florida : |b Whitaker Center in the College of Arts and Sciences, Florida Gulf Coast University.

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|a 5 podcasts, approximately 1 minute each in length

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|a Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the users responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.

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|a Source: Box Turtles 1 Length of Segment: 00:01:14 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. A box turtle is easily recognized by its carapace: its high-domed shell. While related to common aquatic turtles, a box turtle is adapted for life on land. By having a high-domed carapace, a box turtle is slower to heat up when it's out in the sun, and also slower to cool off. The name 'box turtle' comes from the hinge on the underside of a box turtle shell. A box turtle can pull its legs, tail and head in and close up tightly to escape most predators. The eastern box turtle can be found from Maine to South Florida and from the Atlantic to the Great Plains. It's easily identified by the pattern of yellow spots and lines on its dark brown back. On its underside, the eastern box turtle's plastron, or belly shell, ranges from a yellowish horn color to nearly black, sometimes patterned with dark and light blotches. The ornate box turtle of the Great Plains is easily distinguished from the eastern box turtle by its striking pattern of yellow lines on its dark belly. Ornate box turtles are sometimes available in pet stores, and occasionally, an escaped pet can be found in the wild in Florida.

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|a Source: Box Turtles 2 Length of Segment: 00:01:12 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. The sexes of box turtles are usually easy to tell apart. Females tend to be larger, an adaptation for carrying their eggs. And males tend to have the shell of their underside, their plastron, indented, allowing them to easily raise themselves onto the back of the female during mating. These differences increase with age, and aren't so evident in younger box turtles. But there are other ways to tell the boys from the girls. The inner toes of a male box turtle can be turned inward to allow him to hold on to the female during mating. The female’s inner toes do not turn inward. The eyes of the male box turtle are often, but not always, bright red, whereas the eyes of females are brown. One of the most fascinating things about the sexes of box turtles, and many other turtles, is that the sex of an individual is not determined by a special sex chromosome, as in humans and many other animals. The sex of these turtles is determined by the temperature at which their eggs develop. In general, turtles hatching from warm nests become female, and turtles from cold nests are males.

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|a Source: Box Turtles 3 Length of Segment: 00:01:12 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Eastern box turtles enjoy a varied diet, taking advantage of whatever might become available. They love flowers and seem to be especially attracted to orange and red ones and also to red fruits, such as strawberries. They eat lots of mushrooms, even ones poisonous to humans. Earthworms, slugs, snails, and whatever insects come their way are readily taken. Although short-legged and somewhat slow, a box turtle can spot a potential meal well ahead of it and will give chase to a passing insect or worm. Box turtles are also scavengers that will eat from any dead animal. Males and females seem to share a similar diet. When a box turtle encounters food, it sticks its neck out to get a better view, pokes at it, holds it down with its front legs then slowly, deliberately tears bites from the food with sharp, horny jaws. A turtle has no teeth, but it has a hard hooked bill that is somewhat similar to that of a bird. It swallows each bite whole, and like other reptiles and birds, eats small rocks that help grind food within its stomach.

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|a Source: Box Turtles 4 Length of Segment: 00:01:15 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. Turtles in general are known for a long life, and box turtles are no exception. The hard shell of a box turtle has led to many being marked by having names and dates carved into them. Some such efforts are hoaxes, such as one with 'GW 1776' carved into its back. Others seem to provide evidence of a life-span that exceeds our own. Box turtles have a small home range and some are encountered again and again for many years. Researchers mark box turtles in this manner, putting coded notches at the edge of the shell. Thus, our knowledge of turtle longevity is growing with the turtles. Many box turtles seem to reach ages in excess of 50 years; one with multiple dates carved into its shell was believed to be at least 138 years old. Another way in which turtles have been aged is to count growth rings on individual scales, especially those on the underside. Just as with counting growth rings on a tree, it was believed that each ring meant one year of life. These rings may be useful in aging a turtle up to about 20 years, but often they are not. Unlike growth rings in a tree, the scales wear.

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|a Source: Box Turtles 5 Length of Segment: 00:01:13 Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. A few decades ago, box turtles were considered common, but today they are many lists of troubled species; Florida populations have suffered greatly. The single most important cause for the decline in box turtle populations is habitat destruction. Although each box turtle may require two-and-a-half to twelve acres, those acres must provide shelter, nest sites, a continuing supply of food, and access to a mate. As natural habitats have been converted to urban landscapes and criss-crossed with roads, populations have become isolated and one by one have disappeared. If a road goes through the middle of a 50 year-old box turtle's home range, the turtle doesn't leave, he just continues moving about the remaining habitat, crossing the road to get from one area to another and often gets hit. Lawn mowers, children, dogs, and fire also take a toll on box turtle populations. It does no good to pick up a turtle and release it in a safer place; box turtles are homebodies with very good sense of direction. They usually head right back to where they came from, and many don't make it.

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|a Box and water turtles.

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|a Dr. Jerry Jackson.

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|t Box Turtles 1

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|t Box Turtles 3

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|a dpSobek.

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|a Everglades Digital Library: Reclaiming the Everglades.

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|a With the Wild Things.

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|3 FIU Helix Media Library |u http://libtube.fiu.edu/player?autostart=n&fullscreen=y&width=320&height=260&videoId=814&quality=hi&captions=n&chapterId=0 |y Box Turtles 5

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|a Everglades Digital Library: Reclaiming the Everglades