Snapping Turtles: Big Head, Long Neck, Sawlike Shell and Tail, Webfeet

Summary: North American snapping turtle habitats get big heads, long legs and necks, pale lowers, sawtoothed dark uppers, sawtoothed tails, tiny eyes and webbed feet.

Algae-covered snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) digs a nest at Waybay National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Day County, northeastern South Dakota; June 16, 2004; photo by Laura Hubers/USFWS: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

North American snapping turtle habitats attract brackish and freshwater distribution ranges from southern Alberta eastward and southward through Nova Scotia, the Gulf coastal United States and Central and South America to Ecuador.

Snapping turtles bear their species common name because of pain-inflicting, powerful hooked jaws and the subspecies common names common and Florida snapping turtles because of biogeography. They correlate taxonomically with the species Chelydra serpentina and the first- and second-named subspecies Chelydra serpentina serpentina and Chelydra serpentina osceola ("tortoise serpent-like [in] Osceola [Florida]"). Scientific descriptions in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) and in 1918 by Leonhard Hess Stejneger (Oct. 30, 1851-Feb. 28, 1943) drive taxonomies.

Common and Florida snapping turtle life cycles expect lakes, ponds, rivers and swamps with abundant vegetation, muddy bottoms, muskrat lodges, sun-warmed nesting sites and warm shallows.

April through May, May through July and August through November furnish Florida and common snapping turtle life cycles with breeding, egg incubation and hatchling emergence months.

Common and Florida snapping turtles get around by burrowing into muddy banks and water bottoms, crawling overland, floating downstream and swimming with long, sturdy, web-footed legs. They head to winter retreats beneath overhanging mudbanks, in muskrat lodges and within vegetative debris from November through April even though they have aquatic, diurnal lifestyles. They intimidate intruders, predators, prey and rivals with large primitive-looking  bodies and heads, long tails, serrated (saw-toothed) upper-shell (carapace) keels (ridges) and strong jaws and legs.

Alligator snapping turtles, alligators, bears, bitterns, bullfrogs, coyotes, crows, fish, fishers, foxes, hawks, herons, mink, otters, owls, raccoons and skunks jeopardize North American snapping turtle habitats.

Common and Florida snapping turtles know how to keep themselves hunkered down up to their snouts in mud and to keep eggs, mothers and nests predator-safe.

Females lay one clutch of 7 to 55 flexible-shelled, 0.32- to 0.45-ounce (9.1- to 12.3-millmeter) eggs 0.92 to 1.09 inches (23.4 to 27.6 millimeters) in diameter. Blue, dark-marked, plain, spherical or white shells in flask-shaped individual cavities muster within 74 to 95 days 0.71-inch (17.9-millimeter), 0.14- to 0.18-ounce (4- to 5-gram) hatchlings. Acorns, algae, carrion, cicadas, clams, crayfish, darters, duckweed, frogs, geese, grasses, minnows, mussels, salamanders, skunk cabbage, snails, snakes, spiders, sponges, waterweeds and worms nourish snapping turtles.

North American snapping turtle habitats offer season's coldest temperature ranges, northward to southward, from minus 15 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 to 1.66 degrees Celsius).

Brackish and freshwater marshes, emergent and submerged plants, lakes, ledges, muddy-bottomed, slow-moving waters, muskrat burrows, ponds, rivers, sandy soils, streams, stumps and swamps promote snapping turtles.

Eight- to 19-inch (20.32- to 48.26-centimeter) total lengths queue up for oval, rear-serrated, tri-ridged brown, ray, olive upper-shells on 45- to 75-pound (20.42- to 34.02-kilogram) adults. Adults reveal cross-shaped, small tan to yellow lower-shells (plastrons), little eyes, neck tubercles (bumps), sawtooth-ridged, saw-tooth-tipped shell-length tails and 12 marginal scutes for each upper-shell side. Florida and common snapping turtles respectively show blunt and pointed tubercles on their long necks even though both subspecies typically suffer algae- and mud-streaked body parts.

North American snapping turtle habitats trademark crosslike, pale lower-shells, long-necked, small-eyed, strong-jawed big heads, oval tri-ridged brown-gray-olive upper-shells, sawtooth-margined rears, sawtooth-ridged tails, 12-scuted sides and webfeet.

snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery (NFH) and Aquarium, Yankton, Yankton County, southeastern South Dakota; March 3, 2014; photo by Spencer Nauharth/USFWS: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Algae-covered snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) digs a nest at Waybay National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Day County, northeastern South Dakota; June 16, 2004; photo by Laura Hubers/USFWS: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Busy_(8661747206).jpg

snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery (NFH) and Aquarium, Yankton, Yankton County, southeastern South Dakota; March 3, 2014; photo by Spencer Nauharth/USFWS: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmtnprairie/12906273764/

For further information:

Aardema, J.; S. Beam; J. Boner; J. Bussone; C. Ewart; I. Kaplan; K. Kiefer; S. Lindsay; E. Merrill; W. Moretz; J. Roberts; E. Rockwell; M. Reott; J. Willson; A. Pickens; W. Guthrie; A. Young; Y. Kornilev; W. Anderson; G. Connette; E. Eskew; E. Teague; M. Thomas; and A. Tutterow. "Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina." Herps of NC > Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina > Turtles.
Available @ https://herpsofnc.org/common-snapping-turtle/

Babcock, Harold L. (Lester). 1919. "Chelydra serpentina (Linné)." The Turtles of New England; With Sixteen Plates. Monographs on the Natural History of New England; Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 8, no. 3: 354-358, Plate 20. Boston MA: Boston Society of Natural History.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12636557
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/turtlesofnewengl00babc#page/354/mode/1up

Bosch, Adam T. 2003. "Chelydra serpentina Common Snapping Turtle" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Chelydra_serpentina/

"Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina." Excerpted from Animal Diversity. Wisconsin Pollinators > Publications > Articles > Wisconsin Pollinators Reference Articles > Native Species Profiles > Wisconsin Native Turtles.
Available @ https://wisconsinpollinators.com/Articles/T_Snapping.aspx

Coy, Thomas. "Common Snapping Turtle." Austins Turtle Page > Turtle Care > Care Sheets > U.S. Turtles > Pond Turtles > Select.
Available @ http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-commonsnapper.htm

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1840. "Chelonura serpentina -- Linnaeus." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. IV: 21-27. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3682706

Iverson, John B., Ph.D. 2003. "Snapping turtle Chelydra serpentina." Pages 95-96. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

La Cépède, M. le comte de (Bernard Germain Etienne de La Ville sur Illon); Georges Cuvier, Baron; A.-G. (Anselme-Gaëtan) Desmarest. 1881. "La Serpentine." Histoire Naturelle de Lacépède: Comprenant les Cétacés, les Quadrupèdes Ovipares, les Serpents et les Poissons. Tome I: 143. Paris, France: Furne, Jouvet et Cie; Jouvet et Cie, Successeurs, MDCCCLXXXI.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16016481

LeClere, Jeff. "Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)." Amphibians and Reptiles of Iowa > Turtles > Turtles of Iowa.
Available @ http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/reptiles/turtles/common-snapping-turtle-chelydra-serpentina/

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "11. Testudo serpentina." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 199. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727110

"Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina." Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency > Wildlife/Biodiversity > Reptiles > Turtles in Tennessee.
Available @ https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/reptiles/turtle/snapping-turtle.html

"Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina." Indiana Herp Atlas > Turtles.
Available @ https://inherpatlas.org/species/chelydra_serpentina

Sonnini, C.S. (Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert); P.A. (Pierre André) Latreille. 1801."La Tortue serpentine, Testudo serpentina." Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, Avec Figures Dessinées d'après Nature. Première Partie: Quadrupèdes et Bipèdes Ovipares. Tome premier: 159-163. Paris, France: Imprimerie de Crapelet, An X (September 1801-September 1802).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3688683

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Uetz, Peter. "Chelydra serpentina (Linnaeus, 1758)." The Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Chelydra&species=serpentina&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27Chelydra+serpentina%27%29%29