Snapping Turtle
Picture Credit: Ann Paul
At the top of the freshwater food chain, snapping turtles consume fish, plants, frogs, and reptiles and can live to be 100 years old. Employing an element of surprise while hunting, these turtles will hide themselves in muck, only their eyes and nostrils out of the water, and wait for prey to approach them. The scientific name serpentina refers to their long snake-like necks which can extend quickly to snatch up prey in their strong jaws. Most snapping turtles will swim away from humans in the water, identifying us as possible threats, and will only bite at humans on land where they are more vulnerable.
-Alice Roosevelt, Westmoreland Naturalist, B.S. Conservation Biology, SUNY ESF
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