Terrapene carolina
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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.
Terrapene carolina was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is the type species for the genus Terrapene and has more subspecies than the other three species within that genus. The eastern box turtle subspecies was the one recognized by Linnaeus. The other four subspecies were first classified during... Wikipedia →
Recording0:20
United States · 2025
© Iso Lainey! 🍂 · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Busch Gardens Tampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Shedd Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | North Carolina Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Tulsa Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Greensboro Science Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Nashville Zoo at Grassmere | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Cheyenne Mountain Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Oakland Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Toledo Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Detroit Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Cape May County Park & Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Dauphin Island Audubon Bird Sanctuary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Louisville Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Deer Tracks Junction Adventure Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Shalom Wildlife Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Joya Grande | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 22 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Duke Lemur Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Brevard Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | Franklin Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 26 | Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Memphis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 28 | Montgomery Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 29 | Kentucky Down Under | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 30 | Virginia Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 31 | Austin Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 32 | Maine Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 33 | Melbourne Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 34 | Potter Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 35 | Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 36 | Zoo Atlanta | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 37 | Bison Prairie | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 38 | Akron Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 39 | Magnetic Hill Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 40 | Western North Carolina Nature Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 41 | NOVA Wild | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 42 | Plumpton Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 43 | Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 44 | Potawatomi Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 45 | Queens Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 46 | Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 47 | Stone Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 48 | Leesburg Animal Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 49 | North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 50 | Palm Beach Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Box Turtle sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 152 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 17th most-seen of the 35 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Box Turtle in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and April, the lowest months. That is one of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain against 50 mm in March.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Box Turtle sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Common Box Turtle sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Shenandoah National Park (United States, about 50%), Great Smoky Mountains National Park (United States, about 30%) and Congaree National Park (United States, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Emydidae
The closest relatives of the Common Box Turtle that you can see in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (family Emydidae, Pond and Box Turtles) are Peninsular Cooter (about 30%), Florida Redbelly Turtle (about 10%) and Pond Slider (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Box Turtle is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (152 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
