Thursday 12 September 2013

Snapping turtle on the road

On the backroads, coming home, we found a snapping turtle.
We'd taken Jesse, who was visiting us from Vancouver, out to lunch in Westport at our favourite spot, The Cove Inn.

It was an interesting turtle, as it was covered in algae, and several blood suckers! The algae on its tail made it look like a dragon tail. We tried to convince it to cross the road, but it wasn't interested. As the car passed, it watched us, turning towards us. Rather a fierce little guy, it is the garbage collector of the swamp.
They push up suddenly on their front legs, and snap with their jaws. It startles you, no matter their size. It appears to be missing part of its tail at the end.
Not a highly traveled road, we hoped it would make it, as they are endangered. We brake for snakes and turtles.

4 comments:

Kay L. Davies said...

Wow, fascinating, with the algae and all. Sure hope it made it to its destination. Nobody wants to pick up the front end of a snapping turtle, but I might have been tempted to get it off the road somehow. Of course, if I chose to put it down on the wrong side, it would just try again.
I never thought of braking for snakes, but I do brake for critters like this one.
Luv, K

Billy Blue Eyes said...

Those things can take your finger off. I have only ever seen them sitting on logs

Red said...

Some of these critters are very feisty even when they aare an some danger

Kay said...

Aren't those guys dangerous though?