Delayed emergence of hatchling Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) in northeastern Tennessee, USA

distributed throughout the eastern United States from the Mississippi River to the East Coast and from southern Georgia to southern Maine (Dodd 2001; Rhodin 2021).The species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (van Dijk 2011).Although commonly encountered in many parts of its range, noticeable declines in recent decades are attributed to anthropogenic factors (Altobelli et al. 2021; Brown et al. 2021).Terrapene carolina has been the subject of a number of natural history studies across its range (e.g., Dodd 2001; Burke and Capitano 2011b).However, hatchling emergence data are largely lacking for the species (Burke and Capitano 2011a; Duncan 2013), and hatchling emergence, movement, and survivorship data are essential for making informed conservation and management decisions (Altobelli et al. 2021).We herein report a case of delayed hatchling emergence of Eastern Box Turtles (T.c. carolina) from Steele Creek Park in Sullivan County, northeastern Tennessee.At 1545 h on 26 February 2024, the authors encountered a hatch-ling on its back next to a nest hole (Fig. 1).Upon further investigation, another hatchling was seen moving inside the hole along with pieces of eggshells (Fig. 1).Both hatchlings had prominent umbilical scars and their eyes were closed.The nest hole was about 7-8 cm deep and was located on a dirt hiking trail composed of semi-hardpacked sandy clay in an exposed area along an elevated powerline clearing (36.57785, -82.22120; elev.629 m asl).This encounter was suggestive of delayed emergence (overwintering in the nest) due to the presence of two hatchlings (one still in the nest), both with prominent umbilical scars, and eggshells.No evidence indicated that the nest had been excavated by an animal.The immediate area and the majority of Steele Creek Park is mixed hardwood forest with steep knobs and ravines (Jessee et al. 2022).No precipitation had fallen on the day of the observation and the high temperature was 20.6 °C.However, the previous five days (22-26 February) had received a total of 3.89 cm of precipitation and temperature averaged 8.8 °C (NOWdata 2024).