Do Box Turtles Have Antifreeze?

The Creator's amazing designs and planning have revealed themselves in many ways. Interestingly, the more science advances with greater technology, the more we learn about God's design. It's a great time to be a creationist! One critter with some impressive features is the Eastern box turtle.

pixabay / JamesDeMers

Most of us know that when threatened, the turtle can pull its extremities into its shell for protection. But how many know that they have been programmed with the ability to survive being frozen? They have something resembling antifreeze, and I reckon that they go into something resembling what science fiction calls "suspended animation". The Genesis Flood was a judgement on wicked humanity (the next judgement is by fire, 2 Peter 3.5-7), but God preserved humanity and kinds of living things. But the Flood changed the surface of the earth, its climate and so on. He didn't just say, "Okay, everything's changed, you're on your own!" No, he equipped his creatures with ways to survive with methods that baffle evolutionists, who can only come up with ad hoc speculations in order to deny the glory and wisdom of the Creator.

After my family moved to northern Idaho, I recalled fond memories of my childhood back East. When a high-school friend told me he was planning to visit the East coast, I asked him to bring back a living reminder of my past—a box turtle. He obliged and brought a beautiful male specimen, which I named “Waldo Pepper.”

I built an outdoor pen in which Waldo puttered about throughout the summer. When winter approached, he dug a shallow burrow to prepare for the cold. I piled autumn leaves over him and covered everything with a small tarp. It can get bitterly cold in Idaho, but that winter was unusually frigid. I remember it dipped down to 30°F below zero (-34°C).

When spring came, I must admit that I wasn’t hopeful to find Waldo alive. On the first warmish day I anxiously scraped away the leaves. I saw the top of his shell, barely below ground level. “He didn’t dig deep enough,” I worried. “He’s sure to be dead.” I touched his shell and to my delight it lurched as he moved within. He had made it through that wintery blast!

To read the rest of the story and to learn about how this little guy survives, click on "Frozen Alive! Eastern Box Turtles".