St. Louis Box Turtle Project

le opportunity that exists on our doorsteps to experience nature, including box turtles, and 5) the paucity of scientific information vailable to help inform box turtle conservation. The well-known turtle biologist Archie Carr once noted that “everyone likes box turtles,” but how many St. Louisans know that wild, native box turtles are residents of parks in the heart of the City and surrounding countryside? Or that turtle numbers are probably declining throughout the state of Missouri due to road kills, habitat loss, and possibly disease? The goal of this project is to promote conservation of local urban and rural box turtles by improving our understanding of the ranging patterns, ecology, and health status of these delightful animals, and developing an education and outreach program. We work in Forest Park, one of the nation’s iconic urban parks that lies in the heart of St. Louis, and Tyson Research Center, a protected 2,000 acre natural area 18 miles from Forest Park. Our work at each site involves radio-tracking of box turtles to understand ranging behavior, surveys to estimate the abundance and distribution of turtles, research on turtle health status, and outreach to young people.