This is an Eastern Box Turtle who decided my driveway was a great place to hang out. I believe these are in every county in West Virginia so it is hardly rare, but still nice to see when out and about walking.
Although turtles can live to be more than a hundred years old most do not live that long. At least not in the wild where thirty to forty years is much more average.
Round here it is not unusual to see them trying to cross main roads and I am sure there is a pretty high death toll from roads alone. They don’t exactly run to get out of the way unfortunately, and it is all too easy to round a corner and not be able to do a thing in time to avoid them.
