Eastern Box Turtle - North Carolina State Reptiles

The turtle is one of nature’s most useful creatures. Through its dietary habits it serves to assist in the control of harmful insects and as a clean-up crew, helping to preserve the purity and beauty of our waters. The turtle has adapted well to modern conditions and has existed virtually unchanged since prehistoric times. The turtle is really a culinary delight, providing the gourmet food enthusiast with numerous tasty dishes from soups to entrees.

The turtle watches undisturbed as countless generations of faster "hares" run by to quick oblivion, and is thus a model of patience for mankind, and a symbol of our State’s unrelenting pursuit of great and lofty goals.

The General Assembly of 1979 designated the Eastern Box Turtle as the official State Reptile for North Carolina. (Session Laws, 1979, c. 154).