Ornate Box Turtle Profile
The American Great Plains are spotted with tonnes of iconic fauna. The noble bison, the lightning-fast pronghorn, the mischievous prairie dog, and … a terrapin.
The ornate box turtle doesn’t subscribe to your expectations, and with a shell that closes up entirely at any form of criticism, it doesn’t have to.
Ornate Box Turtle Facts Overview
| Habitat: | Terrestrial, open grassland and prairie |
| Location: | Great Plains |
| Lifespan: | Up to 40 years |
| Size: | 10-15 cm (4-6 inches) long |
| Weight: | Up to 540 g (19 oz) |
| Colour: | Grey, brown or black with yellow streaks |
| Diet: | Omnivorous; leaves, fruit, insects, worms, vegetables, carrion, and other box turtles |
| Predators: | Birds, cats, dogs, possums, raccoons, snakes, coyotes, badgers, other box turtles |
| Top Speed: | Faster than a tortoise, slower than a turtle |
| No. of Species: | 1 |
| Conservation Status: | Species is Near Threatened |
Box turtles have a hinged shell that allows them to disappear almost entirely into their protective outer. These ones are a subspecies of terrapin, who pretty much all live in water, but the ornate box turtle doesn’t care so much for that, and wanders the plains like a tortoise.
They eat almost anything and live almost forever, so it’s no use trying to argue with one, but despite their suborn nature, the poor things are suffering declines due to human development.
Interesting Ornate Box Turtle Facts
1. They’re land water turtles
In the US, everything’s a turtle. Turtles are turtles, tortoises are turtles too, and, well that’s about it.
But the point is, tortoises are technically land turtles and while the rest of the world generally reserves the word turtle for those that swim about in the oceans and freshwater systems, there’s little distinction in American English between land turtles and water turtles.
Within that former definition of turtles exist the terrapins. These are a subgroup of freshwater turtles that spend their days chilling by or in the pool.
But terrapins aren’t a real taxonomic group, and are generally split between two main families: a predominantly old-world family called Geoemydidae, and a family that is almost entirely confined to the Western Hemisphere, called Emydidae.
Ornate box turtles are members of Emydidae, and while most of their relatives stick to the basic terrapin lifestyle, these ones have gone full tortoise. Except, tortoises are members of their own family, Testudinidae, so these are strictly terrestrial freshwater turtles.
2. They’re a subspecies
The species, Terrapene ornata is commonly called the Western box turtle and is split into two subspecies. The ornate box turtle is one of them, and it shares the species with the so-called desert, or Sonoran box turtle, which is much larger and even less reliant on water than the ornate.
And that’s saying something, because despite being terrapins, ornate box turtles potter about like tortoises.
3. They’re prairie turtles
So, unlike freshwater, marine, and teenage mutant ninja turtles, these turtles have gone off-piste and instead of rivers, oceans or New York sewers, they inhabit grassy plains and gently rolling countryside with scrubby brush for cover.
They are still more reliant on water than true tortoises, but they aren’t going to be spending their days in it. This subspecies is found within these habitats all across the Midwest from Wisconsin to Colorado and down to the highly uncontroversial Gulf of Mexico. 1
4. They’re hinged
Many turtles are entirely unhinged, and aren’t able to retract fully into their shells. Side-necked turtles, for example, are well known for having to wrap their entire necks along the sides of their bodies to stay out of trouble.
But box turtles are named because of a special hinge on the plastron – the belly-side of the shell. This allows the shell to close up behind the retracted head and tail of the animal, turning them from a terrapin into one of those homing missiles from Mario Kart.
5. They hibernate
Being very mobile, long-range off-road terrapins, they are more than capable of wandering about. But in reality, the majority of their time is spent underground.
They dig burrows for two main reasons: the first is to avoid the majority of the heat from the day or the cold from the night. This helps them conserve water as much as possible.
And the second is to find a safe place to hibernate. They do this every Winter and the burrows will get deeper, the colder it gets. This way, they withstand freezing temperatures and pop out all at once when the weather improves. 2
6. They’ll eat anything
While they’re out there in the plains, they have a distinct advantage over many animals in that they will feed on a huge range of items.
Living or dead, plant or animal, it doesn’t matter. The ornate box turtle is a lot less fussy than its name would have you believe. And this is a huge advantage in a world where the food supply can be inconsistent.
They’ll eat worms, mulberries, caterpillars, grass, and even one another.
Cannibalism is quite common in this species, especially against the very young, whose shells are barely any protection against predators.
7. There are a lot more females than males
Like many other reptiles, temperature determines the sex ratio of this animal, and the temperature commonly dictates almost three-quarters of hatchlings will be female.
Females have brown or black eyes, reflecting the cold, jaded expression of someone unfulfilled by the sex ratio of their species. Males, on the other hand, have crazed, red eyes, likely from lack of sleep.
They both mature slowly, with males taking up to 9 years and females a couple of years longer still. They live for an average of 30 years, though, and some will add another decade onto that, holding onto longevity against the odds, like an unpopular president. 3 4
8. Threats
But they can be killed! As mentioned, juveniles are most at risk, and there are plenty of predators that will take them.
But adults, too, are affected by habitat degradation, disturbances to their hibernation and other human-related effects.
Fences, ditches, water troughs and the threat of being trampled by cows are all hazards, and the species as a whole is sadly in decline.
These are also popular turtles in the pet trade and over-exploitation has contributed to their decline in the wild. Their slow rate of reproduction and maturation means they need a lot of time to recover from losses.
Ornate Box Turtle Fact-File Summary
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Testudines |
| Family: | Emydidae |
| Genus: | Terrapene |
| Species: | ornata ornata |
Fact Sources & References
- Brookfield Zoo Chicago (2021), “Ornate Box Turtle Field Research”, YouTube.
- Lyndsay Coker, “Terrapene ornata Ornate Box Turtle”, Animal Diversity Web.
- Angela M. Doroff (1990), “Demography and Ecology of an Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) Population in South-Central Wisconsin”, JSTOR.
- “Ornate Box Turtle”, Missouri Department of Conservation.