Terrapene o. ornata is an omnivorous, opportunistic feeder, primarily insectivorous but able to subsist on nearly any sort of animal or vegetable food. The general food habits of luteola are poorly known but probably resemble those of ornata. Although kind of food available probably does not limit the distribution of T. ornata there are indications that it influences population density. In Kansas, for example, dung insects are an important staple in the diet and box turtles were found always to be more numerous in areas where domestic cattle provided an abundant supply of dung than elsewhere. A similar relationship probably existed in former times between box turtles and native ungulates. Near extinction of buffalo in the Great Plains possibly caused a decrease in populations of box turtles. Henry S. Fitch told me that the number of T. ornata at the Reservation gradually declined after cattle were removed from the area in 1948.
In summary, the distribution of T. ornata seems to be limited by: 1) Presence of a substrate too hard to permit digging of nests and forms (southwestern and western edges of range); 2) temperatures causing the ground to freeze deep enough (approximately 30 inches) to kill turtles in hibernacula (northern edge of range); and, 3) the lack of one or more relatively wet periods in the course of the warm season, preventing at least temporary emergence from quiescence (southwestern edge of range).
HABITAT IN KANSAS
Clarke (1958:40-45) reported T. o. ornata in all terrestrial communities studied in Osage County; he considered the subspecies to be characteristic of the "… cultivated-field community …" and to be of frequent occurrence in (but not characteristic of) the "… Oak-Walnut Hillside Forest …, Buckbrush-Sumac …, and Prairie communities …". Brennan (1937:345) found T. o. ornata to be equally abundant in mixed prairie and prairie-streamside habitats in Ellis County; the subspecies was much rarer on rocky hillsides and in the habitat surrounding prairie ponds. Carpenter (1940:641) listed T. o. ornata as an inhabitant of "… tall and mixed-grass prairies …" (also in Oklahoma and Nebraska). Fitch (1958:99) found the order of preference for habitats at the Natural History Reservation to be grazed pasture land, woodland, open fields with undisturbed prairie vegetation, and fallow fields with a rank growth of weeds.
At the Damm Farm the greatest number of box turtles was collected on the pasture, especially in three areas designated in [Plate 15] as the "northwest corner," "southern ravine," and "house pond" areas. These three areas had several features in common. All contained ravines and rocky slopes that provided many places of concealment (dens, burrows of larger animals, and suitable substrate for the excavation of earthen forms). All contained water (in ponds and intermittent streams) for most of the year; and, all were frequented daily by cattle that left an abundant supply of dung in which box turtles foraged. In addition, each of the three areas contained at least one mulberry tree, under which fruit was abundant in the months of June and July.
The relative numbers of box turtles found in different areas on the Damm Farm were, of course, governed to some extent by my activity in these areas and by the relative ease with which box turtles were seen in different types of vegetational cover. Turtles were more easily seen in the pasture (especially in sparsely vegetated or denuded areas) where much of my field work was done on horseback, than in the wooded areas, where excursions were usually made on foot. It was evident, however, after mapping known ranges and studying patterns of movement in marked turtles, that concentrations in the three above-mentioned areas of pasture were an indication of actual preference by turtles for the more favorable habitat in these areas rather than the result of incomplete sampling.
REPRODUCTION
Mating
Mating takes place throughout the season of activity but is most common in spring—soon after emergence from hibernation—and in autumn. Turtles frequently copulated in the laboratory in spring and autumn. Copulation was observed under natural conditions on several occasions but only once at the Damm Farm.
Norris and Zwiefel (1950:4) saw two captive individuals of T. o. luteola copulating on 12 August; copulation lasted two hours. Brumwell (1940:391-2) gave the following description of mating in T. o. ornata. A male pursued a female for nearly half an hour, first nudging the margins of her shell and later approaching her rapidly from the rear and hurling himself on her back in an attempt to mount, at the same time emitting a stream of liquid from each nostril. The liquid was presumably water; both sexes had imbibed water in a pond just before courtship began. Brumwell suggested that pressure on the plastron of the male had forced the water out his nostrils. The pair remained in the coital position for 30 minutes after the male had achieved intromission. In another instance, Brumwell (loc. cit.) saw four males pursuing a single female, the males exhibiting the same behavior (nudging and lunging) outlined above. Males that attempted to mount other males were repelled by defensive snapping of the approached male. The female also snapped at some of the males that tried to mount her. One male was finally successful in mounting and was henceforth unmolested by the other males. Brumwell suggested that shell biting and tapping may be methods of sex-recognition.