Stambaugh worked on House Bill 401 that designates the Eastern box turtle as the official state reptile of Pennsylvania and the House Game and Fisheries Committee approved the bill.
Republican State Rep. Perry A. Stambaugh (Juniata and Perry Counties) was at Juniata Elementary School in Mifflintown watching 1st grade students doing presentations on state symbols when one 1st grader asked him why the state didn’t have an official state reptile. Stambaugh then asked the class what they think the reptile should be and they all said it should be a turtle, according to a news story on Goerie.com. The boy came up to him after class and said “It should be one of those yellow turtles we see on the roads all summer long.”
That yellow turtle is an Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina). So Stambaugh worked on House Bill 401 that designates the Eastern box turtle as the official state reptile of Pennsylvania and the House Game and Fisheries Committee approved the bill.
“Unfortunately, the eastern box turtle is becoming an at-risk species, experiencing population declines across most of its range due to a variety of factors. A lot of it is related to habitat loss,” Stambaugh said.
Stambaugh hopes that designating the Eastern box turtle as the official state reptile will help in conservation efforts of the species.
Eastern box turtles are prone to vehicle strikes, but some are intentional. A 2013 Clemson University study found that some drivers deliberately run over turtles when they see them crossing the road. The study involved placing a realistic rubber box turtle on the road and count the number of drivers who delberately ran the turtle over. The study author, then senior Nathan Weaver, counted seven drivers deliberately swerve on the road to run the turtle over. Weaver said more drivers tried to hit the turtle but missed.
Box Turtle Information
Box turtles are widely captive-bred. There are 14 North American species and 12 Asian species. Some of the popular box turtles kept as pets include the eastern box turtle, three-toed box turtle, and the ornate box turtle. Always insist on captive-bred specimens as they will already be accustomed to life in captivity and are generally much healthier than wild-caught specimens.
