When a lull comes in searching for ornate box turtles, he sends Rucker on ahead. It worked Wednesday at Nachusa Grasslands, a 4,000-acre property of The Nature Conservancy 100 miles west of Chicago.

The ornate box turtle is the subject of fieldwork this week in western Lee County, part of the 15th year of a box turtle health survey — the largest and longest in North America, researchers say.

The lifespan of an ornate box turtle in the wild is approximately 35 years, for the three-toed it’s about 70 years. Some kinds of box turtles can live for a hundred years.

Ornate box turtles, native to Iowa and other parts of the Great Plains, are categorized as threatened in Iowa, as their habitat has been steadily eroded in favor of agriculture and housing.

Researchers believe ornate box turtles, once living in half of Illinois' 102 counties, are found in less than 10. One known home for the species is in Lee County, and a team from the Chicago ...

An ornate box turtle found May 6, 2021, at the Nachusa Grasslands as a team of researchers and veterinary students perform health assessments on the threatened turtles.

The ornate box turtle, the state reptile of Kansas, will be the subject of June's First Thursday Presentation at the Smoky Hill Museum. Professor Benjamin Reed from Washburn University will give ...

Ornate Box Turtles have single hinge shells, which allows them to completely enclose their bodies from predators. "They can almost completely go into their shell," said Kinzlie Johnson, a 5th grader.

The ornate box turtle is Nebraska’s official state reptile following a proclamation from Gov. Pete Ricketts on Friday. The turtle lives in grasslands across much of the state, according to the ...

The ornate box turtle joins the sandhill crane as the first state symbols to be designated since 1998. Ricketts named the crane as Nebraska’s state migratory bird in March, as the first wave of ...

In Illinois, ornate box turtles are very rare and listed as threatened. On Tuesday, I tagged along with a group headed by Kim Roman, field biologist for the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission.

The ornate box turtle was a runaway winner, besting the prairie lizard, bullsnake, snapping turtle, six-lined racerunner lizard and western hognose snake. For whatever reason, that didn't ...