A red eye and a concave plastron signal this is a male.
Chris Wemmer (aka Camera Trap Codger) was down this way to see his daughter, and we went out on Sunday to do a little digging on the dogs, and never mind the 2 inches of rain the night before.
The dogs found soon enough, but we spent about 3 and half hours trying to pound through solid rock to get at what they found.
In the end, we were vanquished (sometimes the critter wins one), but on the upside, on the way home we rescued not one, but TWO box turtles from the road.
For those interested in teaching kids about box turtles, check out this nice little PDF of a book (FREE!) for information and lesson plans. Excellent stuff and a special shout out to Valerie Hayes for recommending it.
By the way, Chris Wemmer is a really interesting person. He was director, for 30 years or so, of the U.S. National Zoo's Conservation and Research Centre at Front Royal, Virginia.
During Chris's tenure, the Research Center's staff grew from 12 to over 100, and the facility became a major venue for graduate student studies, endangered species research, and international training.
It is, in fact, a real jewel in the crown of the U.S. conservation movement, and an example of the very best kind of work done by zoos today.
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