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Species Spotlight! Yellow-margined Box Turtle

Today, meet the Yellow-margined Box Turtle (Cuora flavomarginata), a Critically Endangered species from China, Japan, and Taiwan.

Common name: Yellow-margined Box Turtle

Scientific name: Cuora flavomarginata

Countries of origin: China, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Taiwan

Habitat: Tropical and subtropical moist evergreen forests and lowlands

Threats: Habitat destruction and collection for the pet, food, and medicinal trades

Wild Population: Decreasing; mainland Chinese populations are decreasing more rapidly than the populations on Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands of Japan

Conservation: Captive breeding and assurance colonies; field surveys; protected in the wild in China; Japan, and Taiwan; CITES Appendix II