Turtle
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Mon 14 Nov 2011 16:59
|
This Blog has been sadly lacking in good turtle
photos for some time, despite the eastern seaboard of the United States being a
global hotspot for turtle species. So to put that belatedly right here is an
Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), taken last month at
St Mary's City, the location of Maryland's first English colony.
 This guy is a 'land turtle' about the size of a
European tortoise, but as you can see he has a very attractive black and
yellowish shell, and if his head and feet were exposed you'd be able to see
that they are a bright red (as they were, but it started raining so he went
indoors; you can still just see his nose). Altogether very smart.
But the clue to his real claim to fame is in his
English name. As you can see in the photo he is able not only to withdraw
his head and feet, but also to close up his shell. The base plate (plastron) has
a broad hinge across its width, both fore and aft, enabling the occupant to lift
it, entirely closing both ends of its shell - so tightly that not even a knife
blade could be inserted, and making these land turtles (much more closely
related to water turtles than to tortoises) ideally suited to life on
land. Box turtles are purely North American, and in tune with rest of the
country they sometimes get obese, to the extent that they can no longer close
their shells. This guy however was a model of health and fitness, a real racing
turtle.
Sadly, you may feel,no more turtle pictures from
the USA - hibernation has started and we're not going to Florida, the
USA's year-round turtle heaven.
|