page_title: Ornate box turtle
section_title: Lifespan
hierarchical_section_title: Ornate box turtle / Lifespan
caption_attribution_description: English: A hatchling Ornate Terrapin (Terrapene ornata ornata) at the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
context_page_description: The ornate box turtle is one of only two terrestrial species of turtles native to the Great Plains of the United States. It is one of the two different subspecies of Terrapene ornata. It is the state reptile of Kansas. It is a relatively small turtle, that is currently listed as threatened in Illinois but is of concern and protected in six Midwestern states. Males and females generally look alike but males are often smaller; there is color variation with yellow lines from the center of the shell to the edges through gray, red-brown, or black coloration. Besides the size, males can be distinguished from females in several ways; a large curved inner claw on the back feet, a cloacal opening that is farther back in males, a longer and thicker tail, and reddish color on the legs and occasionally on the jaw.
context_section_description: The lifespan of the ornate box turtle has been reported to be from 32 to 37 years, with studies showing that males occur about half as frequently as females.  The reason for the predominance of females is thought to be primarily due to temperature; incubating eggs at 29 °C (84 °F) produces 100% female offspring, so in the wild a combination of temperature, humidity, and other factors are thought to favor female differentiation.
  Birds, such as crows, raptors, and ravens; domestic cats and dogs; opossums; raccoons; skunks; snakes; and even adult box turtles; are potential predators of young turtles.  The turtle has very little means of self-defense other than closing the shell, though they may potentially bite if handled.
  Until recently,  there was very little scientific knowledge of diseases and parasites among the turtle populations; early studies showed that a genus of fly sometimes infested the legs of these turtles and caused death by starvation because their movement was impeded.  More recently, it has been found that respiratory, metabolic, and shell diseases, common in desert tortoises, also fairly common in land turtles such as the ornate box turtle; and that nutritional deficiencies contribute to these other diseases.
  The age of ornate box turtles has been estimated by counting growth rings for many years.  This is similar to estimating the age of a tree but for turtles, the "rings" are lines that form on part of the shell that are like scales and the longer a turtle lives, the more rings are formed.  However, using the rings to estimate age is not always reliable.  The shell does increase in size as turtles get older, even though its weight makes it heavy to carry around.
caption: An ornate box turtle hatchling
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