Reptile-Amphibian #8 — Snapping Turtle

chelydra serpentina

Saturday, May 11, 1996 — 12:30 pm

Barrington, Illinois — Crabtree Nature Center

I was birding when I spotted the first one lying motionlesslly on a log in Sulky Pond. When I came back three hours later, it hadn’t moved. Two others, larger than the first, were moving slowly back and forth in the water in the flooded section of the island, with just the top of their shells above the water. The biggest one poked its huge, dark, grotesque head above the water briefly. It was creepy to see their shells slowly moving around.

The basking one was approximately a foot and a half long with a black shell and a sandy-brown body.

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