Antediluvian by ocoee53
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Description
I’m back! I have just a few pics ready to post. I was going to post the best one last, but decided to post it first.
This is a mud turtle I met recently. Most of the time they stay in their favorite creek or pond, but in the Spring the females travel overland to lay their eggs. This is a fairly good sized one; her shell is about 18 inches long, and I would guess she weighs about 20 pounds. She was a very uncooperative subject. When she strikes to bite, her neck extends 10 inches, as fast as a snake. She is incredibly strong. It was tricky getting her in the best position for the light. Her face was covered in grass clippings from a trip across my neighbor’s yard. I removed the grass in Photoshop rather than brushing it off her - I am rather attached to my fingers, and would like to keep them!
I used to eat these (the meat is delicious), but I’ve come to appreciate the ancient beauty of these animals, which are basically unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. The list of animals I am willing to hunt has narrowed down to fish!
Comments (11)
durleybeachbum
What a terrific shot!
Erestorfan
Hi Charles! So glad to see you're back! And what a picture! Looks like a girl you do NOT want to mess with!! It reminds me of a snapping turtle. Recently the snappers have been crossing the roads here to lay their eggs in the soft sand that accumulates from the sand trucks in winter and people are always calling the police department to report a turtle in the road. One officer had never come across one and knew nothing about them, so when another officer arrived with him Ben was just going to reach down and try to pick the turtle up and move it...and Ryan told him not to and as Ben reached down to move the turtle and that neck and head came out and snapped at him, Ryan said THAT is why you don't mess with these, LOL. Okay, I have heard other people who have eaten turtle. Can you tell me what it tastes like? I mean most unusual things people eat they say tastes like chicken. What does turtle taste like? Not that I plan on eating any mind you, LOL.
blinkings
So kissing her is a bad idea the???????????
spiegel428
Great shot of an awesome animal.
Orinoor
Fantastic shot, I love turtles, from a distance anyway. Glad to hear you've still got all your fingers!
marybelgium
fantastique !!!
GARAGELAND
Strangely looks like my mother in law Super shot!!!
PandaB5
Amazing animal and photo.
0rest4wicked
Here's a fact that most do not know; a snapper can reach it's own tail with that neck! That's right it can reach the length of it's body!
ocoee53
Yes, I learned the length of it's neck years ago...the hard way. I was fishing and caught a snapping turtle eating the fish from my stringer. I decided to have turtle for supper, since most of my fish were gone. So I shot it in the head. Snappers are VERY hard to kill! As I was carrying the seemingly dead critter by the tail, it came back to life and went for my hand. It missed it's mark, but got a fair chunk of my leg.
Mark-David-Rogers
Some of these can grow to massive sizes and bite a broom handle in half so fingers are just straws to them, they do indeed have very powerful jaws and they also have a kind of imitation lure in their mouth that looks like a worm to attract prey such as fish.. once they get close their fate is sealed. Faster than a rat-trap. Great capture.