Alligator Snapping Turtle

Scientific name: Macroclemys temminckii (Formerly Macrochelyst)
Order: Testudines
Family: Chelydridae (Monotypic Macroclemys species)

Description: Carapace to 28 inches. Record weight 219 pounds. Largest freshwater turtle in the world. Massive head with powerful, hooked beak. Red, worm-like projection on tongue that acts as bait to attract fish. Capable of serious bites; often aggressive. Carapace brown or gray with three rows of knobby, keeled scutes. Row of scutes between costals and marginals of carapace. Plastron narrow, rigid, cross-shaped. Tail long, covered with large, rough scales.

Distribution: South-central USA. Aquatic.

Breeding: Mates underwater February to April.

Nesting: Lays one clutch in April to June in a flask-shaped, earthen cavity a short distance from the water's edge. 10 to 52 spherical eggs are laid, 1-1/2 inches large. Incubation 82 to 114 days. Young are 1-3/4 inches at hatching.

Diet: Lie in wait for prey on the bottom with mouth open, using the protrusion on tongue to attract fishes. Eats fishes and anything it can swallow, including other turtles.

References

The Completely Illustrated Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians for the Terrarium. Fritz Jurgen Obst, Dr. Klaus Richter, and Dr. Udo Jacob. Translated by U.E. Friese. Neptune City, New Jersey: T.F.H. Publications, Inc., 1988.

A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Second Edition. Roger Conant. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1958.

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. John L. Behler and F. Wayne King. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1979.

Living Reptiles of the World. Karl P. Schmidt and Robert F. Inger. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1957.