Three-striped box turtle

01juni2011
Source: artis.nl, photo Torsten Blanck
The three-striped box turtle lives in the wild in China, Laos and Vietnam, and it is there that this turtle species is seriously endangered. Because its meat is highly valued, only a few hundred of these wild animals are left.
Contributing to this problem is the fact that the plastron, the ventral side of the shell, is thought to have a medicinal effect.
European Zoos house 29 three-striped box turtles, reports the keeper at Artis, making the birth of a three-striped box turtle a few months ago good news. After 80 days in the incubator, the young turtle emerged from its egg. Turtles do not care for their young after they hatch, so they must be able to take care of themselves.

The name of the three-striped box turtle (Cuora trifasciata) is very fitting. Adults have three parallel stripes on the carapace (back side of the shell); when the turtle retreats into its shell, a flap closes off at the head, making the animal look like a box.

Full-grown three-striped box turtles are approximately 25 cm long; when newly hatched, only 5 cm. These animals are at home both in the water and on land, so their enclosures must include both water for swimming and a dry area.

These turtles are almost completely carnivorous, yet they also munch on water plants. Their diet consists of fish, snails, worms, shellfish and baby mice.
Licence photo: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0