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Ornate Box
Turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata) Much
like the barred owl of March, this feisty
girl had an unfortunate run-in with a motor vehicle during an early morning sojourn.
Luckily, her savior was not far behind and quickly pulled his truck over (bass
boat in tow and all) and scooped her upside down form from the middle of the busy
road. Aside from some cuts and scrapes, the ornate box turtle weathered the encounter
comparatively well and is making a fast recovery with some tlc, antibiotics, and
lots of her favorite treat: worms. |
Ornate
Box Turtle
Photo Dove Key Ranch Wildlife Rehabilitation |
Ornate Box Turtles
in Texas: Determinedly
plodding across grazed pastures, open woodlands, prairies, and sandy-soiled lowlands
across Texas, ornate box turtles are so named for
the distinctive yellowish lines radiating across the dark brownish to black background
of their carapaces. Males sport concave plastrons, long, thick tails, and eyes
marked with a brilliant red iris, a hue likewise painted across their legs and,
occasionally, jaws. A large claw curves from the inner margins of each masculine
rear foot, affording mounting chaps a better grip on rowdy potential mates, especially
handy since female ornate box turtles are larger than similarly-aged males.
If
the shelled suitor can hang on and the coupling is a success, the lively lady
will seek out a protected patch of loose soil in a shaded area (often her own
wintering den) to deftly bury two to eight delicate eggs between mid-May and early
July. In lusher, bug-laden years, early breeders may deposit a second clutch in
mid-July. Nine to ten weeks later, mini-versions of adult ornate box turtles emerge
like tiny, flailing tanks from the sand, still sporting a small egg tooth that
helped them crack through their brittle-shelled natal enclave. Any eggs that develop
in temperatures above 84° F sprout box turtles of the fairer sex, while those
incubated below 84° F cultivate male chelonians. The few turtle tykes that
manage to survive a perilous world full of predators, cars, wildfires, lawnmowers,
insecticides, pet collectors, and developers will reach maturity at eight to ten
years of age and can prosper to a grand old age in the thirties. |
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The
Ornate Box Turtle
Photo courtesy Dove Key Ranch Wildlife Rehabilitation |
Ornate box turtles
are extremely philopatric and may spend all three decades of their life in a home
range as small as 0.12 hectares or as extensive as 36.4 hectares. Within this
well-traversed territory, these armored omnivores recognize and remember specific
landmarks for navigation ease, favorite foraging areas for refueling, potential
sources of water for soaking and thirst-quenching, scrubby, shady spots for mid-day
cooling, and well-drained areas for winter denning and spring nesting. Mornings
draw snoozing ornate box turtles from their burrows to bask in the rising sun’s
rejuvenating rays. Once the chelonians are warmed, they search for everything
and anything from grasshoppers, caterpillars, earthworms, and cicadas to mulberries,
blackberries, opuntia cacti, and a wide variety of vegetative treats to small
animal prey and carrion. Exhibiting a behaviour harkening back to when bison once
roamed vast stretches of prairie lands throughout the Lone Star state, ornate
box turtles are drawn to dung piles littering the cropped grasslands that feed
the modern day bovid of choice: cattle.
Poop discoverers excitedly flip over cow patties in a frantic search for beetles
and their larvae. As the Texas temperatures soar mid-day, box turtles retreat
to the welcoming shade below brushy shrubs or within burrows, sometimes on loan
from pocket gophers and other excavating mammals. The milder temperatures of dusk
once again stir these mini-bulldozers to activity. Foraging expeditions stretch
until the evening chill drives the domed ectotherms to the warm safety of a familiar
den.
The relocation of a box turtle from its home territory to unrecognizable
terrain (even if the new habitat appears safer and/or richer in chelonian amenities)
is catastrophic for the armored homebody. Any displaced ornate box turtle will
be unable to find appropriate places to hide, eat, rehydrate, hibernate, thermoregulate,
and nest. In fact, the disoriented chelonian may spend the rest of his/her life
desperately searching for his/her former territory, encountering a sleuth of threats
along the way: starvation, dehydration, predation, treacherous road crossings,
inhospitable urban and suburban barriers, and other direct and indirect human
obstacles. Box turtles attempting a dangerous street crossing can be helped by
placing them in the direction that they were traveling a safe distance off road
on the opposite side of the street. These resolute land farers know exactly
where they’re going and how they want to get there. If you do happen upon an injured
ornate box turtle, make a detailed note of where the animal was found before delivering
the patient to a trained wildlife rehabilitator. In the hopeful event of the turtle’s
recovery, this will facilitate his/her release into a familiar home range. In
all other cases, wandering turtles should be admired from afar and appreciated
for their beauty as perfectly complemented by the natural world in which they
dwell.
From the vast wildernesses and grazing bison of the past to the
pastures and lumbering cows
mixed with suburban development of the present, ornate box turtles have resolutely
stomped through time, adapting to an ever-changing landscape and a varied roster
of compatriots. Their dogged site fidelity, stunning beauty, and insatiable appetite
for insects make them dependable and highly desirable neighbors. With care and
respect on our part, ornate box turtles will be able to burrow into our wild areas
and, if you’re very lucky, backyards for countless cow pie-flipping generations
to come.
©
Bonnie Wroblewski
http://www.dovekeywildlife.org
May 12, 2011
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