Dying Snapping Turtles Stock Footage 01

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Mating of most reptiles in the Everglades takes place in early spring. The vastly flooded prairies offer plenty of protection from predators. But the females need to reach the dry land for building their nest, which is often separated by dangerous roads and high ways.
Each year, a large number of reptiles are killed in an attempt to reach their destined nesting grounds. The injury of this alligator snapping turtle is so server, even exposing her developing eggs. Its extremely strong shell offered little protection during the colliding vehicle.
A fully grown alligator snapping turtle is one of the heaviest freshwater turtles in the world and its immensely powerful jaws is capable of separating a human’s hand if handled improperly.
Alligator snappers are opportunistic feeders that are almost entirely carnivorous. They rely on both live food caught by ambushing its prey and dead organisms which they scavenge. Fully grown snappers will eat almost anything they can catch in the water or at the water’s edge, including raccoons, armadillos and even smaller alligators.
This species can bite through a broom handle with a bite fore of 1500 lbs psi and cases have been reported where human fingers have been cleanly bitten off. Hence, these turtles are considered potentially dangerous must be handled with extreme care.
Nevertheless, this female lated over an hour before eventually dying of its injuries. This stock footage was filmed by Heiko Kiera aka Ojatro in 2017.