SNAPPING TURTLE!

 

SNAPPING TURTLE!

First of all we discussed about snap.

Snapping turtles cannot hit their shells with their heads and limbs, so they use powerful jaws for self-defense. You can stand on your hind legs and stretch your neck-like lightning-click! This talent is suitable for extreme situations! For example, when a canoe paddling interrupts your relationship or the driver tries to knock you off the road. Another protective measure when standing is the smell of urine.

They are calm most of the time. One can almost stand on a turtle buried in the mud of a swamp, or stand a few feet away from the turtle that is laying eggs, without warning. As Malcolm Coulter wrote in his book "Maine Amphibians and Reptiles," they are "shy and withdrawn" underwater. They go to the bottom more often than swim, and rest more than walk. A person can crawl into the water to scratch the snapping turtle’s jaw or scratch their back without hurting anyone or the turtle. In fact, they seem to like scratches. You have good hearing and vision.

Humans are relatively new to the turtle world. Snapping turtles have existed for about 40 million years, and their ancestors are 200 million years old, making them one of the oldest vertebrate groups today. Habits: Scientists believe that sea turtles evolved on land. They share the earth with Brontosaurus and Mastodon.

Weight of Snapping Turtle!

The average weight of a snapping turtle is 17.5 pounds, but it can weigh up to 40 pounds and can grow to more than one meter tall. The shell is a bit flat, thick and rough, but full of nerve endings (sensitive to scratches). Algae can make shells grayish green. Some algae do not grow anywhere except on the backs of sea turtles.

The broken shell of the tortoise covers only part of the body, exposing muscular legs with sharp curved claws and skin covered with "warty nodules". The head is thick and strong, with a pointed mouth and sharp chin, without teeth; the raised bone plates form points along the tail.

Very young people can see them because snappers are common residents of the southern and central coasts and valleys of Maine. They can be found in shallow swamps, overgrown lake shores, slow-moving waters, and even in estuaries like Merry Encounter. Bay. Young people prefer shallow streams with lots of reeds, reeds and submerged plants as food. Many Maine lakes are home to snapping turtles. Many local snapping turtles have a favorite sunbathing stone, which can be used to keep warm, improve metabolism and save energy (fat) in winter. They sleep at night, hibernate, buried in mud, and under ice.

Females can also be faithful to their nesting sites, returning to the same gravel or loose stream year after year, sometimes even miles away. The sandy roadside is also a popular nesting site. Temporarily choose a new territory to disperse the population.

Most of the eggs will soon be snatched by predators such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, and minks. The rest hatch at the end of August or early September. "The chicks dug out from the nest and somehow went straight to the nearest waters, even though they were not visible."

Cutting off the tortoise bones stored in the ashes of the old fire proved that the ancestors ate sea turtles, which is still an important part of today's cultural diet. Slaughtering turtle meat forms the basis of turtle soup, but under Maine law, snapping turtles can be hunted and captured for personal use because snapping turtles have a long life span and are relatively at the forefront of food (eating fish and birds). Contaminated by mercury and other toxic chemicals. They seem to tolerate pollution better than other species and can be found in degraded habitats. The snapping turtle survived. As long as there is water and mud to bury and sand to lay eggs, snapping turtles can live another 40 million years.