A handsome male Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) rambling across the road. This is my first this season to give a helping hand across the road and into a safe environment again.

What intricate patterns they have on their shells. Those patterns are just like our fingerprints. You can identify a Box Turtle by the pattern on its carapace (the top of its shell). I take a picture of each turtle that I help across the road and make note of where it was. The Common Box Turtle has a home range with a diameter of about (just!) 750 feet. Home ranges of these turtles often will overlap.

The Common Box turtle can live to be 25 to 30 years old. Some have lived to be 40 to 50 years old and a few lucky ones have been recorded to live beyond 100 years.

How special that they can live that long. Maybe with the help of people who stop to help them across the road.

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