{"id":12871,"date":"2013-05-04T09:19:15","date_gmt":"2013-05-04T14:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12871"},"modified":"2013-05-06T13:04:26","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T18:04:26","slug":"snappers-on-the-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=12871","title":{"rendered":"Snappers on the Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Male Snapping Turtle at SouthCoast Bog<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

For the Turtle Journal team, Spring isn’t really Spring until snapping turtles begin to prowl, looking for love in all the right and wrong places.\u00c2\u00a0 And when you’re a mature male snapping turtle, like the handsome critter above, no one is foolish enough to tell you that you’re in the wrong place.<\/span><\/p>\n

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First Prowling Snapper at Washburn Park<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Sue Wieber Nourse and Rufus encountered the first snapper on the prowl on Friday, May 3rd.\u00c2\u00a0 This healthy and feisty male\u00c2\u00a0emerged from swampy wetlands to cross the walking path into the large reservoir at Washburn Park.\u00c2\u00a0 He was particularly unamused to find Sue and Rufus in his way, and he employed Darth Vader-like hissing and multiple power snaps to clear these inconvenient mammalian obstacles from his determined path.\u00c2\u00a0 You may know that a snapper turtle’s neck can stretch (a.k.a. snap) nearly half the length of its shell quicker than human brain and body can react.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Male Snapping Turtle in SouthCoast Bog<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday, we visited a large, quiet SouthCoast cranberry bog for another chance to see these living prehistoric fossils in action.\u00c2\u00a0 We walked along bog channels and peered into a deep mucky “elbow” pool.\u00c2\u00a0 Through the murk we could just make out the spooky\u00c2\u00a0shape of\u00c2\u00a0 a giant shelled reptile lying on the bottom, something straight from the Jurassic era as though beamed through the ages by an H.G. Wells Time Machine.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Net!”<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Don Lewis carried his trusty sampling net, jerry-rigged with a long, eight foot extension pole.\u00c2\u00a0 He scooted down the bank and scooped the large snapper from the murky water.\u00c2\u00a0 Normally used for capturing terrapins and small fresh water turtles, the poor net\u00c2\u00a0bowed and groaned under the weight and the fight response of this impressive reptile.\u00c2\u00a0 In the back of his head, Don heard echoes of Jaws’ Chief Brody, “You’re gonna need a bigger net!”<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rufus Gives Snapper a Wide Berth<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Don lifted the snapper to the top of the bank where Rufus had\u00c2\u00a0supervised the struggle.\u00c2\u00a0 She decided to give this aggressive critter a wide berth and to let humans handle the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Snapping Turtle Plastron<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

One reason I believe that snappers are so aggressive, compared to terrapins and box turtles and painted turtles and spotted turtles, is the small plastron that guards\u00c2\u00a0its underbelly.\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike those other species that are well protected by a hard shell\u00c2\u00a0from potential predators, snappers’ soft meaty parts are exposed and vulnerable.\u00c2\u00a0 Best strategy for a snapper is to force potential threats to keep their distance with a powerful snap and claws the\u00c2\u00a0thickness and the strength of railroad spikes.\u00c2\u00a0 Does a Tyrrannosaurus rex<\/em> come to mind?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Snapping Turtle’s\u00c2\u00a0Dinosaur-Like Tail<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Snappers have an extraordinary tail that seems straight from the dinosaur design book.\u00c2\u00a0 The humps and bumps along its luxurious length remind us of a sauropod, as does its thickness and strength.\u00c2\u00a0 Next to a chomp from its\u00c2\u00a0snappy\u00c2\u00a0jaws and a tear from\u00c2\u00a0its steely claws,\u00c2\u00a0our least favorite choice would be to sustain the whip of its powerful\u00c2\u00a0dinosaur-like tail.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Male Snapping Turtle Up Close and Personal<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever the rationale for\u00c2\u00a0their aggresssive behavior, Turtle Journal must admit that it seems to work very well … for perhaps 200 million years.\u00c2\u00a0 Few folks and even fewer critters \u00c2\u00a0have the infinite bravado and the infintesimal good sense to confront an angry snapping turtle without utmost caution and protection.\u00c2\u00a0 The Turtle Journal team finds snapping turtles irresistible reminders of a time long, long forgotten.\u00c2\u00a0 They remain near the top of our list of favorite turtle\u00c2\u00a0species.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Male Snapping Turtle at SouthCoast Bog For the Turtle Journal team, Spring isn’t really Spring until snapping turtles begin to prowl, looking for love in all the right and wrong places.\u00c2\u00a0 And when you’re a mature male snapping turtle, like the handsome critter above, no one is foolish enough to tell you that you’re in […]<\/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\/12871"}],"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=12871"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12927,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12871\/revisions\/12927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}