R. K. Cook's video: Male Eastern Box Turtles Fighting Intense

HANK WILDING'S JOURNAL: I observed these Rock 'em Sock 'em Box Turtles duking it out in my dried-up pond one August 2016 morning. For weeks, I'd been seeing an unusual amount of box turtles in the former pond; they seemed to like the tall, lush grass that had sprung up there, and the abundant grasshoppers therein. In fact, I'm fairly certain one of the combatants — the slightly larger one with the duller shell — is the friendly fellow to whom I'd fed grasshoppers, crickets and even a tomato in recent days. He wasn't so friendly, though, this sticky morning. Box turtles are generally docile, and I was shocked and amazed at the fierceness of their territorial dispute. Listen closely and you can hear the turtles' sharp beaks tearing into shell and flesh. Around 1:46, one turtle appears to make what sounds like a cry of pain. It was hard to watch, folks, and I was relieved when the two palookas finally broke it off. Well, almost. When Mr. Friendly tried to call it quits, his rival gave chase after him through the grass for Round 2, presumably. Just a couple of days later, I happened upon a pair of box turtles making the beast with two shells in another part of the dried-up pond — see photo at end of video. Neither of the two brawling turtles was the female's partner — another Romeo had beaten their time! As a Trekkie, I couldn't help but be reminded of the way-cool fight scene between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in the classic STAR TREK TOS episode, "Amok Time." I thought about using the urgent martial music from that show but nah, that would be cheesy. And it would result in pesky ads spoiling the video. I hate ads, and I know you do, too. Well, you never know what you'll see if you get off the beaten path. That's why a-wilding I will go.