![]() ![]() Lawn mowers, tractors, and cars are constant killers. "And I go, 'Well, lifetime would be nice.'"īox turtles face serious known threats. "I say, 'Well, you've got to make a long-term commitment,' and they say, 'Well, how long?'" explains Somers. She believes that's the best way to get folks who are serious about staying with it, slow and steady, for the long-haul. Somers says they don't actively try to recruit volunteers, but wait for people to hear about it and just show up. Gabrielle Graeter, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, shows volunteers on how to properly fill out data sheets with box turtle information. Researchers in Long Island, NY found a turtle in 2002 with markings on its bottom shell that showed it had been captured in 1921 by a naturalist who, back then, recorded that it was a couple of decades old. Clearly, though, living a century is a possibility. And anybody else that tells you that they can tell, I wouldn't believe much else what they said."ĭetermining a turtle's age is a tricky business, because the lines of growth on its shell aren't as revealing as the growth rings inside a tree. Gently cradling the turtle in her hands and admiring its bright orange neck, Somers says, "I'm certain it's more than 20 years old, but how old, I can't tell you. (Somers has stuck close to home herself, as she was raised about ten miles away.) ![]() "It couldn't have been 15 feet from where we found it before," says Somers, who delightedly explains that box turtles are homebodies that can spend their entire lives in a few acres. ![]() Already, since 2008, dozens of volunteers have collected information on over 4,100 box turtles living on over 30 sites across North Carolina, from private properties to vast state parks.īy looking in its database, Somers could tell that her driveway turtle had last been found two years earlier in almost the exact same place. Despite popular interest in box turtles for over a century, scientists don't know how populations have changed over time.Ĭalled the Box Turtle Connection, its goal is to monitor thousands of box turtles for at least 100 years, which means that eventually the work will have to get passed on to people who are currently children having their own formative moments with turtles. Two children hold a female eastern box turtle in this early 20th century photograph. But the shell's edge had a set of unique identifying notches – marks that identified this turtle as part of an ambitious project that Somers helped start in her home state, one that could end up being the biggest and most long-term study of box turtles ever. This particular adult male had lost a few toes on one foot, maybe to a hungry raccoon, and had a beat-up shell. Now 70 and retired from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, she's still highly attuned to box turtles, like a battered one she recently spotted near her driveway. But some turtle fans, like Somers, worry that those special moments are becoming increasingly rare. T.-type experiences to children exploring back yards, forests and other green spaces. With their bright eyes, colorful carapaces and calm demeanor, these wrinkled denizens of the forest have historically provided E. ![]() Martin Kane/University of North Carolina at GreensboroĪ half-dozen subspecies of box turtles make their homes across much of the U.S., from Maine down to Florida and westward out to Colorado. The Box Turtle Connection plans to study turtles like these for at least the next century with the help of dedicated volunteers. Somers holds a baby box turtle, which could live to be 100 years old. ![]()
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