Snapping Turtles

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Snapping Turtles

• A PowerPoint Presentation
• Created by
• L. L.

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Table of Contents

• Anatomy
• Where in the U.S. do Snappers Live?
• Snapping Turtles Diet.
• Natural Habitats
• Reproduction
• The Five Subspecies of Snapping Turtles
• Interesting Facts About Snappers

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Anatomy
Hard shell made of bony plates covered by horn
A sharp horny beak with no teeth.very strong
jaws.
Long tail

• The color of their shell can either be brown,
  olive green, black or tan.
• The color of their skin also varies and can be
  gray, brown, yellow, tan, or black.
• It can grow to be 18 inches long and weigh up to
  85 pounds.
• Male snapping turtles are usually larger than the
  females.

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Where in the U.S. can you find Snappers?

• Central and eastern United States
• Florida
• Also in
• Central America
• South America
• Canada

Scientific names
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What do Snapping Turtles eat? Snapping Turtles
are omnivores (plant and meat eater)

• snakes
• insects
• crayfish
• crabs
• shrimp
• clams
• frogs tadpoles
• earthworms
• leeches
• fish
• salamanders

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Natural Habitats

• A snapping turtle lives in places that are
  freshwater with muddy bottoms and lots of plant
  life.
• For example

• River
• lake
• stream
• canal
• ponds
• marshes

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Reproduction

• The eggs are slightly smaller than ping-pong
  balls
• Females can lay up to 80 eggs
• It takes the eggs 55 - 125 days to hatch
• Their breeding season is April to November
• The eggs hatch anytime from late April to October
• Nesting is one of the few times a Snapping turtle
  will leave the water.

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SUBSPECIES
THE
FIVE
OF
SNAPPING
TURTLES
Common Snapping Turtle
Mexican Snapping Turtle
Florida Snapping Turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Ecuardorian Snapping Turtle
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Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina
serpentina(Scientific name)

• Lives in Southern and Eastern Canada, and
  throughout the Eastern United States.
• Most common of the four subspecies.

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Mexican Snapping TurtleChelydra Serpentina
Rossignoni(Scientific Name)

• Lives in Veracruz, Guatemala and Caribbean
  Honduras.
• The most aggressive of the subspecies.

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Alligator Snapping TurtleMacroclemys
temminckii(Scientific Name)

• Found mostly in southern United States.
• the largest freshwater turtles in the world.
• weighs over 200 pounds.

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The Florida and Ecuadorian Snapping
TurtlesScientific Names Chelydra serpentina
osceola and Chelydra serpentina acutirostris
Florida Snapping Turtle

• The Florida snapper lives only in the Florida
  peninsula
• The Ecuadorian Snapping Turtle can be found in
  areas around Cost Rica.

Ecuadorian Snapping Turtle
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Interesting Facts About Snappers

• Have no teeth, but are able to brake a broomstick
  in half with their powerful jaws.
• They can live for 30 to 40 years.
• Are nocturnal animals
• Over 260 million years ago, Snapping Turtles
  evolved, long before their larger relatives, the
  dinosaurs.
• When a turtle hatches, the shell bones are not
  fully connected together, similar to how there is
  a soft spot on a human babys skull.