- An alligator snapping turtle is much larger than its common cousin is and is a bit more active in its pursuit of food. These reptiles only leave the water when the female needs to lay her eggs, remaining on the bottom in a muddy part of a deep pool with its mouth agape. The turtle occasionally rises up for air and then settles back down into its position. The reason for this is that this species has an appendage in its mouth that it has the ability to wiggle. Using this fleshy lure to entice fish close, the turtle will then close its powerful jaws on the unsuspecting fish and quickly dispatch it.
- The Smithsonian National Zoological Park site says an alligator snapping turtle, in addition to fish, will consume aquatic plants. Other things that compose this turtle's diet include aquatic life such as snails, clams, worm, crayfish, frogs, tadpoles, insect larvae and snakes. Even other turtles can become victims of this turtle's appetite and if need be it will eat from a dead animal it finds in the water. The alligator snapper is the king of the freshwater turtles when it comes to size; some can weigh around 200 lbs.
- Common snapping turtles will dine on more vegetation than the alligator snapping turtle will, but fish and other aquatic creatures are important to their diets as well. Lacking a "lure" to trick fish within range, the common snapping turtle depends on the element of surprise, lying in wait in the water and grabbing whatever comes close in an ambush. The "Tortoise Trust" website says that most of the hunting occurs in the spring, after the turtle comes out of its winter den and before aquatic vegetation is abundant.
- For years sportsmen felt snapping turtles could decimate populations of game fish and waterfowl, but research shows this to be unfounded. The species of fish that a snapping turtle can catch and eat are those bottom feeders that move slowly, and not active game fish like bass and trout. The waterfowl that do wind up on a snapper's menu are typically sickly or injured.
- In the colder portions of their range, a common snapping turtle buries itself in the mud during the winter at the bottom of a pond or other shallow body of water. The turtle at this time is defenseless and can be at the mercy of mammals such as river otters, which will easily kill and eat the turtles. While the adult snapping turtle has few enemies other than man, wading birds like herons and four-legged foes like otters, raccoons, foxes and other predators can eat the babies.
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