{"id":10490,"date":"2012-04-23T21:37:49","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T02:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10490"},"modified":"2012-04-23T21:37:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T02:37:49","slug":"snapping-turtle-mating-in-full-swing-on-southcoast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=10490","title":{"rendered":"Snapping Turtle Mating in Full Swing on SouthCoast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Adult Male Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Torrential rain and mild temperatures swept the SouthCoast on Sunday night into Monday morning.\u00c2\u00a0 After weeks of drought, humid air offered a welcome break for wildlife.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal walked out to the Great Blue Heron rookery\u00c2\u00a0this morning.\u00c2\u00a0 As Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus followed the narrow path between\u00c2\u00a0mucky wetlands and swampy pond, they spotted a broiling underwater commotion obscured\u00c2\u00a0in\u00c2\u00a0the brownish\u00c2\u00a0murk.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mating Pair of Snapping Turtles<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Barely\u00c2\u00a0identifiable in the image above,\u00c2\u00a0a pair of snapping turtles\u00c2\u00a0explored\u00c2\u00a0amorous intentions.\u00c2\u00a0 Tails fully entangled in the bottom of the photograph, and heads\u00c2\u00a0faced each other with mouths agape, the twosome undulated a foot below water surface.\u00c2\u00a0 The male snapper\u00c2\u00a0whom we encountered later\u00c2\u00a0on the pathway\u00c2\u00a0was recognizable\u00c2\u00a0on top\u00c2\u00a0through the bumps on his carapace.<\/p>\n

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“Smiling” Male Snapping Turtle after Mating Engagement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few minutes later, when they returned from\u00c2\u00a0a survey of the distant edge of the pond, Rufus bolted to attention and\u00c2\u00a0alerted Sue\u00c2\u00a0to a large still object at the edge of the path.\u00c2\u00a0 Sue identified the adult male snapping turtle who a few moments earlier had been engaged in an energetic Texas two-step with a young female.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus Discover Mating Snappers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This male snapper weighed about 25 pounds and he seemed to be taking a snooze after\u00c2\u00a0the passionate exchange.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He sported impressive claws nearly as thick as human fingers and he reared up high in powerful display of his dominance.\u00c2\u00a0 “Leave me alone!”<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Male Snappng Turtle Celebrates with Break Dance<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Somehow our snapper friend got flipped over\u00c2\u00a0in his exuberant display of fierceness.\u00c2\u00a0 As he used his noggin to right himself again, the sequence looked like a comical\u00c2\u00a0cartoon break dancer.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal couldn’t resist putting\u00c2\u00a0the moment\u00c2\u00a0to music and motion.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Male Snapping Turtle Returns to the Water<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Once right-side up again, this snapper had had enough of human and canine interaction.\u00c2\u00a0 He furiously stiff-legged his way back to the edge of the path and took a nose dive into the pond.\u00c2\u00a0 Within seconds, he had disappeared into the dark murkiness, a bit like Jaws escaping Quint by diving deep into the\u00c2\u00a0ocean darkness.\u00c2\u00a0 It does give you pause, though, about what might lie beneath the placid waters of your local swimming hole.\u00c2\u00a0 You remember, of course, the tag line for Jaws 2:\u00c2\u00a0 “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adult Male Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) Torrential rain and mild temperatures swept the SouthCoast on Sunday night into Monday morning.\u00c2\u00a0 After weeks of drought, humid air offered a welcome break for wildlife.\u00c2\u00a0 Turtle Journal walked out to the Great Blue Heron rookery\u00c2\u00a0this morning.\u00c2\u00a0 As Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus followed the narrow path between\u00c2\u00a0mucky wetlands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10490"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10520,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10490\/revisions\/10520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}