Eco: It wasn't always so dangerous

Turtles have moved about according to their annual cycles for hundreds of millions of years. It's been only recently that crossing paved roadways has become so dangerous, and begun taking so heavy a toll on long established native populations. The painted turtle pictured above was run over and killed by a passing vehicle along a suburban road in Fairfield County.

Some of Connecticut's box turtles are old enough to remember when there were few roads and fewer motor vehicles, and their annual treks from a breeding pools to nearby woodlands were rarely interrupted by much activity at all. As more and more old fields and open spaces are developed, once safe turtle crossings are now more heavily trafficked, putting the famously slow moving animals at great risk.