as well as further research into its life history and the monitoring of populations. State reptiles Common box turtles are official state reptiles of four U.S. states. North Carolina and Tennessee honor the eastern box turtle, Missouri names the three-toed box turtle, and Kansas adopted the ornate box turtle in 1986. In Pennsylvania, the eastern box turtle made it through one house of the legislature, but failed to win final naming in 2009. In Virginia, bills to honor the eastern box turtle failed in 1999 and then in 2009. Although a sponsor of the original failed 1998 bill, in 2009, Delegate Frank Hargrove, of Hanover, asked why Virginia would make an official emblem of an animal that retreats into its shell when frightened and dies by the thousands crawling across roads. However, the main problem in Virginia was that the creature was too closely linked to neighbor state North Carolina. References Citations Bibliography External links Terrapene Turtles of North America Reptiles of the United States Fauna of the Eastern United States Species endangered by the pet trade Species endangered by roadkill Reptiles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Reptiles as pets