Can turtles smile? It is always cool to see turtles in the wild, especially Woodland Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina), like this beauty that I spotted yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. She seemed to be trying to smile when I snapped her portrait. (I think the turtle is a female because of her brown eyes—males usually have red eyes.)
There is something really special for me about seeing the color, patterns, and even the shape of this turtle’s shell, which is quite distinctive and unlike that of any other turtle that I see. These turtles, which are also known as Eastern Box Turtles, can live for a long time, as much as 100 years when in captivity, according to Wikipedia. In the wild, though, their life span is considerably shorter. Why? According to the same article in Wikipedia, “Box turtles are slow crawlers, extremely long lived, slow to mature, and have relatively few offspring per year. These characteristics, along with a propensity to get hit by cars and agricultural machinery, make all box turtle species particularly susceptible to anthropogenic, or human-induced, mortality.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Lovely shots. Thanks for that information about the eyes being a clue to gender.
Thanks, Laura. Here’s a link to a previous post that shows one with red eyes, i.e. a male. https://michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/2017/10/20/autumn-box-turtle/
Great shot Mike!
I love this! 💕😀
Great shots! That’s a turtle I’ve never seen even though they’re supposed to be here.
I love box turtles! These are lovely images.
Benjamin is loving the turtle and the name “Box Turtle”. He agrees that the turtle is smiling in the enlarged first photo. He like the enlarged second photo with “his little tail” showing. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!