When I was a boy, there were a lot of box turtles. We lived next to our local woodland, and the edge of the woods featured blackberry patches. That made it very attractive to box turtles. And when it rained, they would wander around your back yard.
(Did I remember I was Mr. Nature?)
I kept box turtles as pets. Who didn’t? They got very tame, but they were also escape artists. When they were out of their turtle pen, they used to bother our dog, Rags, by eating his dog food and totally ignoring his strenuous objections. There’s not much a dog can do to an adult box turtle.
Now, of course, it’s been years since I’ve seen a box turtle. That’s progress! McMansions everywhere you look!
*Sigh* Nature is a memory.
We have box turtles in our neck of the woods. Whenever I see one trying to cross a rode, I pull over and help them to the other side. But beware the turtle you are helping is not a snapping turtle who bite.
Snappers spend most of their time in the water, but often take it into their heads to wander on land. That’s when they wind up on the road.
I caught a big snapper years ago, up in Minnesota. It was near a lake, but it was having a junket off in the weeds, when I caught it. I showed it to friends and family, then put it back at the shore of the lake. It swam away at amazing speed, stopping to give me a dirty look, once it was about 30’ away. 🙂
The last snapper I had as a pet grew very tame. My turtles got washed out of their tank once by a heavy rain and were all absent. Amazingly, they ALL made it back over the next few days. They earned their cold cuts!
The one I encountered was obviously smarter than I would have thought possible for a turtle.
You’d be surprised: turtles are not stupid.
Turtles are a lot smarter than this computer.
Computers are incredibly dumb.