The alligator snapping turtle (''Macrochelys temminckii'') is a large

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Chelydridae The Chelydridae is a family of turtles that has seven extinct and two extant genera. The extant genera are the snapping turtles, ''Chelydra'' and '' Macrochelys''. Both are endemic to the Western Hemisphere. The extinct genera are '' Acherontemys ...

. They are the largest freshwater turtle in North America. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to freshwater

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. ''M. temminckii'' is one of the heaviest living freshwater turtles in the world. It is often associated with, but not closely related to, the

common snapping turtle The common snapping turtle (''Chelydra serpentina'') is a species of large freshwater turtle in the Family (biology), family Chelydridae. Its natural range extends from southeastern Canada, southwest to the edge of the Rocky Mountains, as far eas ...

, which is in the genus ''

Chelydra ''Chelydra'' is one of the two extant taxon, extant genus, genera of the snapping turtle family, Chelydridae, the other being ''Macrochelys'', the much larger alligator snapping turtle. The snapping turtles are native to the Americas, with ''Che ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''temminckii'' is in honor of Dutch

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch patrician, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. Fro ...

Taxonomy

Although it was once believed that only one

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

species exists in the genus ''

Macrochelys ''Macrochelys'' is a genus of very large freshwater turtles in the family Chelydridae, native to the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. Only a single extant species was recognized until 2014, when a study divided it into two or possibly t ...

'', recent studies have shown that there are two species, the other being the Suwannee snapping turtle (''M. suwanniensis'') of the

Suwannee River The Suwannee River (also spelled Suwanee River or Swanee River) is a river that runs through south Georgia southward into Florida in the Southern United States. It is a wild blackwater river, about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrog ...

. The most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of the two species lived approximately 3.2 to 8.9 million years ago, during the late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

to late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Apalachicola snapping turtle (''M. apalachicolae''), has been proposed, but is generally not recognized. The alligator snapping turtle is given its common name because of its immensely powerful jaws and distinct ridges on its shell that are similar in appearance to the rough, ridged skin of an

alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

. It is also slightly less commonly known as "the loggerhead snapper" (not to be confused with the

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...

or loggerhead musk turtle).

Distribution and habitat

The alligator snapping turtle is found primarily in freshwaters of the southeastern United States. It is found from the

Florida Panhandle The Florida panhandle (also known as West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long, bordered by Alabama on the west and north, Georgia (U.S. state ...

west to

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

, north to southeastern

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, southeastern

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, western

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, southern

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, west

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

western

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, and western

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. ''Macrochelys temminckii'' often utilize core sites, characterized by specific microhabitat features such as an abundance of structural cover such as cut banks, root balls, and submerged trees and dense canopy cover. Typically, only nesting females venture onto open land. They are generally found only in bodies of water that flow into the Gulf of Mexico and usually do not occur in isolated wetlands or ponds. A study found that the turtles prefer places with canopy cover, overhanging trees, shrubs, dead submerged trees, and beaver dens. This species utilizes core sites within these habitats, and females tend to have larger movement patterns than males. The average home range for an individual is . Females have larger home ranges than males.

Description

The alligator snapping turtle is characterized by a large, heavy head, and a long, thick shell with three dorsal ridges of large scales (

osteoderm Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct amph ...

s), giving it an appearance reminiscent of the armoured ankylosaurs. It can be immediately distinguished from the

by the three distinct rows of spikes and raised plates on the

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

, whereas the common snapping turtle has a smoother carapace. The spikes on the carapace gradually flatten out as the turtle ages. ''M. temminckii'' is a solid gray, brown, black, or olive-green in color, and often covered with

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

. It has radiating yellow patterns around the eyes, serving to break up the outline of the

eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

s to keep the turtle

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

d. The eyes are also surrounded by a star-shaped arrangement of fleshy, filamentous "eyelashes". Alligator Snapping Turtle Skeleton

Though not verified, a alligator snapping turtle was found in Kansas in 1937, but the largest verifiable one is debatable. One weighed at the

Shedd Aquarium Shedd Aquarium (formally the John G. Shedd Aquarium) is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago. Opened on May 30, 1930, the aquarium holds about 32,000 animals. It is the third largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere (after the Georgia Aquariu ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

was a 16-year resident giant alligator snapper weighing , sent to the

Tennessee Aquarium The Tennessee Aquarium is a non-profit public aquarium located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1992 on the banks of the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga, with a major expansion added in 2005. The aquarium, which ha ...

as part of a breeding loan in 1999, where it subsequently died. Another weighing was housed at the Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago. Another large turtle reportedly weighed . The species generally does not grow quite that large. Breeding maturity is attained around , when the straight carapace length is around , but then the species continues to grow throughout life. Excluding exceptionally large specimens, adult alligator snapping turtles generally range in carapace length from and weigh from . Males are typically larger than females. 88 adult alligator snapping turtles averaged , 92 averaged , and 249 averaged . Usually very old males comprise the specimens that weigh in excess of per most population studies. Among extant freshwater turtles, only the little-known giant softshell turtles of the genera '' Chitra'', '' Rafetus'', and '' Pelochelys'', native to Asia, reach comparable sizes. In mature specimens, those with a straight carapace length over , males and females can be differentiated by the position of the

cloaca A cloaca ( ), : cloacae ( or ), or vent, is the rear orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive (rectum), reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles, birds, cartilagin ...

from the carapace, and by the thickness of the base of the tail. A mature male's cloaca extends beyond the carapace edge, a female's is placed exactly on the edge if not nearer to the

plastron The turtle shell is a shield for the ventral and dorsal parts of turtles (the Order (biology), order Testudines), completely enclosing all the turtle's vital organs and in some cases even the head. It is constructed of modified bony elements such ...

. The base of the tail of the male is also thicker as compared to that of the female because of the hidden reproductive organs. The inside of the turtle's mouth is camouflaged, and it possesses a

vermiform Vermes (" vermin/vermes") is an obsolete taxon used by Carl Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for non-arthropod invertebrate animals. Linnaeus In Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae'', the Vermes had the rank of class, occupying the 6th (and last) ...

(worm-shaped)

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part or natural prolongation that protrudes from an organism's body such as an arm or a leg. Protrusions from single-celled bacteria and archaea are known as cell-surface appendages or surface app ...

on the tip of its

tongue The tongue is a Muscle, muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper s ...

used to lure

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, a form of

aggressive mimicry Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predation, predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signalling theory, signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host (biolog ...

. With its unique head morphology, research suggests that this species has strong natural selection for bite performance, which can directly or indirectly affect fitness. A study conducted in 2023 found that this turtle's bite force can range between 8.2 and 1872 Newtons of force. This bite force is heavily dependent on size. Research suggests that ''M.temminckii'' thermoregulates by altering its depth in the water column, because this species is rarely seen basking. This turtle must be handled with extreme care and considered potentially dangerous. This species can bite through the handle of a broom and in rare cases human fingers have been cleanly bitten off by the species. No human deaths have been reported to have been caused by the alligator snapping turtle. File:Macrochelys temminckiiHolbrookV1P24A.jpg, Illustration from Holbrook's ''North American Herpetology'', 1842 File:Alligator snapping turtle - Geierschildkröte - Alligatorschildkröte - Macrochelys temminckii 01.jpg, With a carpet of algae on the carapace File:Alligator snapping turtle (51239805410) (cropped).jpg, Head of a young alligator snapping turtle File:Alligator Snapping Turtle 01.jpg, Head of an adult alligator snapping turtle

Diet

The alligator snapping turtle is an

opportunistic feeder Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

that is almost entirely

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

. It relies on both catching live food and scavenging dead organisms. In general, it will eat almost anything it can catch. Fishermen have glorified the species' ability to catch fish and to deplete fish populations, whereas in fact it largely targets any abundant and easily caught prey, and rarely has any extensive deleterious effect on fish populations. Its natural diet consists primarily of

and fish carcasses,

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

carrion Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

, and

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s, but it is also known to eat

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes. Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...

s and other invertebrates,

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

aquatic plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...

s, other

s and sometimes even small

s. In one study conducted in

, 79.8% of the stomach contents of adult alligator snapping turtles was found to be composed of other turtles, although the resistance of shell and reptile-bone fragments to digestion may have led these fragments to remain longer in the digestive tract than other items. This species may also, on occasion, prey on aquatic rodents, including

nutria The nutria () or coypu () (''Myocastor coypus'') is a herbivore, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent from South America. Classified for a long time as the only member of the family Myocastoridae, ''Myocastor'' has since been included within Echimy ...

s and

muskrat The muskrat or common muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over various climates ...

s or even snatch small to mid-sized other

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, including

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

s, and

armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...

s when they attempt to swim or come near the water's edge. In the wild, alligator snapping turtles are also recorded eating a wide range of plant matter such as seeds, tubers, stalks, American persimmons,

wild grape Wild grape may refer to: * ''Vitis'' species; specially ''Vitis vinifera'' subsp. ''sylvestris'' (the wild ancestor of ''Vitis vinifera''), ''Vitis californica'' (California wild grape), '' Vitis girdiana'' (desert wild grape), and '' Vitis ripari ...

, water hickory,

pecan The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia ( ...

s, and

locust Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...

. Between March and October, stomach samples of 65 turtles showed that 56% of their diet by volume was composed of acorns of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

, overcup, and willow oaks. The most frequently eaten food item was fish; despite this, fish only made up 7% of their diet by volume. Mammalian and bird prey, although less frequently eaten, made up 10% and 7% of the diet by volume respectively. As ingested willow oak acorns were found to germinate faster after defecation, it is suggested that alligator snapping turtles may be important seed dispersers of oak trees. While downstream dispersal of acorns is passive, ingestion by alligator snapping turtles could facilitate dispersal of acorns upstream as well as laterally across streams. The alligator snapping turtle seemingly most often hunts at night. It may also hunt diurnally, however. By day, it may try to attract fish and other prey by sitting quietly at the bottom of murky water and letting its jaws hang open to reveal its tongue appendage, which looks like a small, pink worm in the back of its gray mouth, and lure the prey into striking distance. The vermiform tongue imitates the movements of a worm, luring prey to the turtle's mouth. The mouth is then closed with tremendous speed and force, completing the ambush. Although the turtle does not actively hunt its prey, it can detect

chemosensory A chemoreceptor, also known as chemosensor, is a specialized sensory receptor which transduces a chemical substance (endogenous or induced) to generate a biological signal. This signal may be in the form of an action potential, if the chemorecept ...

cues from prey, like the mud turtle, in order to choose the location in which it is most likely to catch food. Small fish, such as minnows, are often caught in this way by younger alligator snapping turtles, whereas adults must eat a greater quantity per day and must forage more actively. Though not a regular food source for them, adult alligator snappers have even been known to kill and eat small American alligators.

Reproduction and lifespan

Maturity is reached around 12 years of age. Mating takes place yearly, in early spring in the southern part of its geographic range, and in later spring in the northern part. About two months later, the female builds a nest and lays a clutch of 10–50 eggs. It was found that some females lay eggs every year and some females lay eggs every other year. The sex of the young depends on the temperature at which the eggs are incubated. This is called temperature dependent sex determination, and it is used by all turtle species to determine sex. For the alligator snapping turtle, higher temperatures produce more males in a clutch. Nests are typically excavated at least 50 yards from the water's edge to prevent them from being flooded and drowned. Incubation takes from 100 to 140 days, and hatchlings emerge in the early fall. Though its potential lifespan in the wild is unknown, the alligator snapping turtle is believed to be capable of living to 200 years of age, but 80 to 120 is more likely. In captivity, it typically lives between 20 and 70 years.

Predation

The alligator snapping turtle is most vulnerable to predators before and shortly after hatching. The eggs can be eaten by birds or mammals. The risk of predation decreases as the turtle gets bigger, so the adult turtle does not have as many predators. Their largest predator in many parts of their range is the northern river otter ''(Lontra canadensis)'' when the turtles are young. Humans are also a threat to the alligator snapping turtle.

Under human care

The alligator snapping turtle is sometimes captive-bred as a pet and is readily available in the exotic animal trade. Due to its potential size and specific needs, it does not make a particularly good pet for any but the most experienced aquatic turtle keepers. It prefers to feed on live fish, but will readily feed on other types of meat or leafy vegetables if offered. Hand feeding is dangerous. Extreme temperatures are known to affect the turtle's appetite and would result in the turtle refusing to feed until the temperature has been regulated. Due to the turtle's sheer size, handling an adult specimen poses significant problems. With relative safety, a smaller turtle is held by the sides of its shell. A larger turtle, with its proportionately longer neck and greater reach, is held safely by grasping the shells just behind the head with one hand and using the other hand to grasp the shell just above the tail's base. Despite its reputation, the alligator snapping turtle is typically not prone to biting. However, if provoked, it is quite capable of delivering a powerful bite which can easily amputate fingers or cause other significant injuries, such as cuts. In some U.S. states, where the alligator snapping turtle does not naturally occur (such as

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

), it is prohibited from being kept as a pet by residents.

Invasive species

Some alligator snapping turtles were released or escaped into waters of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. In

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, a turtle was accused of causing injury to a child, but the claim was never substantiated and the turtle in question was never found. In Bohemia, four turtles of this species have been caught. In Hungary, one turtle was caught in the middle of a street near a lake. Alligator snapping turtles have been found throughout Italy beginning in the early 2000s. Certain EU countries have strong laws against keeping the alligator snapping turtle without permission, as it is an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

. In February 2024, a single male was found in Urswick Tarn in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The turtle, which was nicknamed 'Fluffy' by his rescuers, has since been moved to the National Centre for Reptile Welfare in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. There are non-native established invasive populations of the alligator snapping turtle in South Africa.

Conservation status

Because of collection for the exotic pet trade, overharvesting for its meat, and habitat destruction, some states have imposed bans on collecting the alligator snapping turtle from the wild. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

lists it as a

threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

, and as of 23 February 2023, it was listed as a

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

Appendix II species, meaning international trade (including in parts and derivatives) is regulated by the CITES permit system. The alligator snapping turtle is now endangered in several states, including Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri, where it is protected by state law. It is designated as "in need of conservation" in Kansas. In October 2013, one was found in the Prineville Reservoir in Oregon. It was captured and euthanized by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which considers alligator snapping turtles to be an invasive species. This one was the first found in the state. In June 2024, it was announced captive alligator snapping turtles, bred in Oklahoma, would be reintroduced to the Neosho River in Kansas in hopes of bringing them back to its waterways.

References

External links

Alligator vs. common snapping turtle – Chelydra.org
* * Crunch, the alligator snapping turtle * {{Authority control Apex predators Chelydridae Endemic reptiles of the United States Fauna of the Southeastern United States Reptiles described in 1835