Animal Feature: Box Turtle Loves Boxes
Now that we’ve finally found Popeye, our stuffed box turtle, it’s time we learned a bit about this creature, and how it has eluded us for so long.
StuffedZoo:Tell us, Popeye, where have you been?
Popeye: Well, I got my first box in 1983. It was for a blender, and it still had some of that styrofoam packing stuff in it. I dug that out, crawled inside, and thought to myself, “Well, now, this ain’t too bad. Kinda like a second shell.” You see, box turtles are always looking for more shells. We love to be layered, it helps us feel safer. Plus, we’re cold-blooded, so an extra layer is a good thing to have.
After that, I started just nosing around the neighborhood, picking out a new box here and there. Now I’ve got, oh, let’s see. . . I’ve got about 63,921 boxes now.
SZ: Okay, but how does that explain our inability to find you for all these years?
Popeye: Well, now, I was getting’ to that. See, box turtles don’t just hoard boxes and leave ‘em around. We use ‘em. Every day I get inside a box, and for the last six years, I’ve used a different box every day. I like to keep ‘em, though, because you never know: yesterday’s box may just be tomorrow’s perfect fit.
SZ: I see: every time we came to your neighborhood in the swamp, and a sparrow would tell us, “he was in that box over there yesterday,” you were always one step ahead?
Popeye: I suppose so. You’d have to look in every box, every day. Can’t nobody predict a box turtle.
SZ: So what do you think of the Human World, now that you’ve been brought here via the Stuffocator?
Popeye: I kinda like it. Right now, they got me in a big room, full of boxes, and every box’s got a few stuffed animals in it. Not all of em are turtle, neither. It’s interesting, I’ll give you that.
