image credit: Thingie
image credit: jvp78000
image credit: saddleguy
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image credit: phil w.
image credit: Mike_tnHabitat: eastern United States
Status: Near Threatened
This beautiful creature is the Eastern Box Turtle and its one of only two species of box turtles found in the United States. It’s actually the only “land turtle” in North Caroline, where it’s the state reptile.
The Eastern Box Turtle’s skin comes in many wonderful shades, including yellow, brown, redish orange, and everything in between.
Box turtles commonly live 25-30 years in the wild but have been known to reach ages of 40-50 years old. There are records of box turtles living over 100 years but
this is probably pretty rare.
Here’s a great little BBC clip too:
