Dragon tail

[miekec]

For the past 4 years now, we've seen turtles along the Muddy River. And 3 of those years it was in the same week in June [hm, that sentence smells grammatically incorrect, somehow]! This time, it was June 12, on our morning commute in. It was a big one, this time, probably at least a foot across for just the shell.

One of the things I noticed even more when I was watching than on the picture (not sure it's that obvious on the pictures) was the dragon tail she had. It was long, very strong looking, and definitely ridged/spiked/zigzagged. With that, plus the big size, we most definitely kept our distance. Even Karin wasn't all that convinced it was a pet-able creature, and heeded my warnings. Following some unknown hunch, I had grabbed our camera on the way out this morning, so here's proof:



Snapping turtle along Muddy River bikepath

Comments

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

Ok, this may or may not explain an amazing turtle sighting I had about 10 years ago.

I've got some friends who live in West Warwick Rhode Island -- which is actually an agglomerate of what had been five mill towns. My friends' house is near what had been "Phenix" -- there's still a sort of town square of a park surrounded by 19th century building, and the remains of 19th century mills along the Pawtuxet River.

During one visit I walked down the street and crossed over the Pawtuxet River and, way down in the river below the bridge, I saw a pair of the largest turtles I'd ever seen, swimming in the river. They looked prehistoric, and by my memory were well over a foot long each. Could they have been two feet? Maybe. They were HUGE. When I told my friend about them later she said she had never seen them in the river.

It was actually spooky and creepy, as if I'd stumbled into the past.

Anyway, I've never had any idea what those turtles were. I'd certainly never seen anything like them. But looking at this picture (and your verification of size), they may well have been this same species. In my memory they were greener than this, but that could be a trick of light. They had those strange flipperlike legs. And yes, dragon tails.

So maybe this is a mystery solved.

[chocorua.livejournal.com]

I've picked up snapping turtles of that size or a little bigger, but only when really necessary - they can reach back with their heads to at least the mid-point of the shell, so you have to put your fingers where the hind legs can claw you (not sharp enough to break the skin, though). Karin does not want to find out that a snapper that size could probably bite her finger off.

And yes, 2 feet long is not an unreasonable size for a snapper in New England. They get bigger than that further south.

This is a very nice photo

[redembers.livejournal.com]

Did it hiss at you? they have a tendency to do that, and you really really need to be carefull, that big tail helps them to swing around pritty quickly.

I once saw a police officer trying to push one across the street so it wouldn't get hit by a car (it was about 2 feet, just the shell, a really BIG one) and as he pushed it, it suddenly swung around and clomped down on the billy club he was using....and would't let go! he proceeded to drag it across to the river side of the road, and finally got his stick back...it had a big dent in it. I was glad it wasn't his foot he had been using!

They are pritty scary in the damage they can do with that beak of a mouth.