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Box Turtle - Shaw NR Missouri USA (1 Viewer)

SanAngelo

Well-known member
Hiking a spur off the Bluff Overlook Trail in the Shaw NR on 12 July at 10am or so.

Found the turtle sitting in the middle of the trail.

Pretty sure it's an Eastern Box Turtle but the diminished pigment has me confused.

If I wrong or you care to comment I'd appreciate hearing about it.
 

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That's a Three-toed Box turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis)

Missouri has two native subspecies of the Common Box turtle (Terrapene carolina)
Three-toed
Ornate Box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata)

Eastern Box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) range doesnt extend this far west.

As the name implies with the Ornate...the difference is obvious.
If you have a shot of the rear feet, you *should* see three toes.
Doesn't always hold true... Some Three-toed have four
 
No shots of the toes. I wanted to pick her but she was hunkered down so I let it be. Couldn't tell if she was laying eggs or what. I stood around for a good while she never moved. Circled back on the trail an hour or so later she was gone. Didn't see anyone else hiking that part of the reserve, I feel confident she wasn't snatched up.

Thanks for the info.
 
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