I've found a load of box turtles over the years down in the everglades and especially in the Everglades National Park (ENP). Here are some from the past few years.
This one was right near the main entrance to the park. It had some old fire damage but was otherwise OK.
This old female was about as round as I've ever seen.
She had a very slight dent in her plastron.
She had the usual notch in her carapace that many adult box turtles get from fighting or mating. But this is nothing compared to what the average female gulf coast box turtles of similar size and age will have in the Apalachicola National Forest (ANF).
Another one in the road.
Here is something you don't find very often. A juvenile.
What a nice plastron he had!
Released site.
I've spent countless hours wading and hiking way off the main park road. This young male was found several miles out in the sawgrass in a tree island. The water depth around the tree island was about 15 inches. In the rocky center it was dry though.
Box turtles are fairly common on these little isolated islands.
Photographed just as he was found...
He was pretty nice.
Plastron.
Plastron of another male that was also found out in a tree island.
That's all for now...
This one was right near the main entrance to the park. It had some old fire damage but was otherwise OK.
This old female was about as round as I've ever seen.
She had a very slight dent in her plastron.
She had the usual notch in her carapace that many adult box turtles get from fighting or mating. But this is nothing compared to what the average female gulf coast box turtles of similar size and age will have in the Apalachicola National Forest (ANF).
Another one in the road.
Here is something you don't find very often. A juvenile.
What a nice plastron he had!
Released site.
I've spent countless hours wading and hiking way off the main park road. This young male was found several miles out in the sawgrass in a tree island. The water depth around the tree island was about 15 inches. In the rocky center it was dry though.
Box turtles are fairly common on these little isolated islands.
Photographed just as he was found...
He was pretty nice.
Plastron.
Plastron of another male that was also found out in a tree island.
That's all for now...