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Project Noah Nature School
Macrochelys temminckii
Spotting #2,000 :) These are the largest freshwater turtle in the world, and this was by far the biggest I have seen. They are listed as threatened, and ones this size are not seen very often. He was right around 100 lbs, and we estimate him to be around 100 years old as well. I am in the last photo with him to show size a little better.
On a trip to east Texas with my professor and some other students, we were out to find as many herps as we could. We set traps for turtles, and definitely didn't expect something like this! Caught in a bald cypress swamp at a national wildlife refuge, and the video shows us releasing him back to continue to live another 100 years :)
Here is another video of us trying to get him to bite down on a stick. You can tell he didn't even try, and instead of cracking the stick he ended up flattening it. Definitely don't want to get within striking range of him :)
Spotted on Apr 21, 2014
Submitted on Apr 26, 2014
35 Comments (1–25)
Congratulations on 2000 Ashley! And thank you for all ID you have contributed with to my spottings :) Have a great day!!!!
Very nice series!
Congratulations Ashley! One of the best spottings I have ever seen :)
Thanks so much everyone, glad you enjoyed this big guy as much as I did!
Awesome spotting! Congratz!
Beautiful!! What a find!! Congratulations, AshleyT.
Congrats Ash and thanks for sharing. :) (I wish I could favorite it twice. ;)
Congratulations Ashley! Wonderful spotting! Wishing you lots and lots of SOTDs. :))
This is so cool. Congratulations Ashley!
Congrats again Ashley,on the very well deserved SOTD :-)
WOW great spotting Ashley Congratulations.....
Congratulations on your 2000th spotting. Great!
Congrats on 2000 and such a great spotting
A big congrats Ashley!!! This is a great SOTD!
Congrats Ashley. Welcome to the 2000+spotings and 2000+ suggestions club. Relax, stretch your legs, there's not many in this club, so there is plenty of room.
Double congrats, Ash! :)
2000th spotting and SOTD CONGRATS.
At home in the water. Everything is big in Texas! HA! Nice find and congratulations.
Congratulations on your 2000th spotting!
Congratulations Ashley on your SOTD
He is beautiful Ashley. I really like that first picture. And scary. A medium sized snapping turtle leaped at me once and scared me to death. They can move really fast. Congratulations on SOTD and on your 2000 spottings and all your help and comments.
Awesome!!
A milestone event, complete with video. A very nice touch for this amazing spotting. Congratulations to you.
Awesome!
Ashley, this awesome encounter was not only an easy choice for a Spotting of the Day, but an incredible way to celebrate 2,000 spottings! Congratulations on this huge milestone and thanks for all of you wonderful contributions to the community. We can all sleep a little easier at night knowing that passionate people like you are out there leading the next generation.
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