Friday, April 24, 2009

Common Snapping Turtle

Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)










http://speckledbiter.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/snapping-turtle-2.jpg

Identification
The common snapping turtle is a large freshwater turtle.This turtle can reach 47 cm and weight 39-42 kg. This turtle is easily recognizable.The carapace is usually brown to black.The skin can be brown,gray or black.its webbed feet have long claws
The neck is almost as long as their carapace.Common snapping have a large head with strong
jaws.The bite of common snapping turtles is paintful and it can hold on ferociously.








http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Common_Snapping_Turtle_1429.jpg



The snapping turtles is very aquatic and rarely leave the water to bask.usually they will float on the surface of the water and very aggressive to catch the pray.

Food

The diet of the common snapping turtles are variable.This turtle will eat almost anything that they can catch and swallow.In the wild adult common snapping turtle can eat the duck,fish small mammals frog,toad,small turtles.Juvenille feed mainly on small invertebrates such as insects,crayfish,snail and worm.They are some report that common snapping turtles eat plants.

Longevity
The most vulnerable time for common snapping turtles is while it is a hatcling .The biggest enemy for this turtles is humans because sometimes according to my friend common snapping turtles will be cooked and eat by human.This turtle can live approximately 30 years in the wild and 40 years in the captivity.

sources

  • Bartlett,Dick"Aquatic Nightmares:The common and Alligator Snappers".Reptiles.Fancy Publications,vol2,No. 3,Jan 1995
  • Ernts,Carl H., and Roger W.Barbour.Turtles of the World.Smtihsonian Institution Press,1989
  • Ernts,Carl H., Jeffrey E.Lovich, and RogerW.Barbour.Turtles of the United States and Canada.Smithsonian Institution Press,1994
  • Smith,Hobart M.and Edmund D.Brodie,Jr.Reptiles of North America Golden Press 1982.
  • http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commo/e/e6/Common_Snapping_Turtle_1429.jpg
  • http://speckledbiter.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/snapping-turtle-2.jpg

1 comment:

  1. i just know the turtle like that. its nice that color.

    ReplyDelete