Common box turtle: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the common box turtle lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Terrapene carolina
Group	Turtles & tortoises
Status	Vulnerable (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	North America
Class	Reptile
Order	Testudines
Family	Emydidae

Where does the common box turtle live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the common box turtle in 1 country or territory across North America.

United States

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the common box turtle endangered?

The common box turtle’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Vulnerable” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the common box turtle?

The common box turtle (Terrapene carolina) is a reptile in the order Testudines and the family Emydidae, genus Terrapene. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the common box turtle

The common box turtle (Terrapene carolina) is a species of box turtle with five existing subspecies. It is found throughout the Eastern United States and Mexico. The box turtle has a distinctive hinged lower shell that allows it to completely enclose itself, like a box. Its upper jaw is hooked.

The turtle is primarily terrestrial and eats a wide variety of plants and animals. The females lay their eggs in the summer. Turtles in the northern part of their range hibernate over the winter.

Common box turtle numbers are declining because of habitat loss, roadkill, and capture for the pet trade. The species is classified as vulnerable to threats to its survival by the IUCN Red List. Two states have chosen subspecies of the common box turtle as their official state reptile: T. c. carolina in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Common box turtle (revision 1346831643), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1044378 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).