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Project Noah Nature School
Chelydra serpentina
This snapping turtle was huge! It crawled into my backyard, I live on a lake and it came from out of the lake. I transported it to an area in our lake where small children or pets could not get harmed.
Very muddy natural canal that leads to a 30 year old man made lake.
Spotted on Jul 15, 2011
Submitted on Dec 8, 2011
5 Comments
moved to reptiles :-)
I love these creatures. His shell looks worn !
Thank you for the information
I copied from Wikipedia:
Turtle, tortoise, or terrapin
Although the word turtle is widely used to describe all members of the order Testudines, it is also common to see certain members described as terrapins, tortoises or sea turtles, as well. Precisely how these alternative names are used, if at all, depends on the type of English being used.
British English normally describes these reptiles as turtles if they live in the sea; terrapins if they live in fresh or brackish water; or tortoises if they live on land. However, there are exceptions to this where American or Australian common names are in wide use, as with the Fly River turtle.
American English tends to use the word turtle as a general term for all species. "Tortoise" is used for most land-dwelling species, including the family Testudinidae and box tortoises. Oceanic species are usually referred to as sea turtles. The name "terrapin" is typically reserved only for the brackish water diamondback terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin; the word terrapin being derived from the Algonquian word for this animal.[18]
Australian English uses turtle for both the marine and freshwater species, but tortoise for the terrestrial species.[18]
To avoid confusion, the word "chelonian" is popular among veterinarians, scientists, and conservationists working with these animals as a catch-all name for any member of the superorder Chelonia, which includes all turtles, tortoises and terrapins living and extinct, as well as their immediate ancestors. It is based on the Ancient Greek word χελώνη, chelōnē; Modern Greek χελώνα, chelōna; meaning turtle/tortoise.
Some languages do not have this problem, as all of these are referred to by the same name. For example, in Spanish, the word "tortuga" is used for turtles, tortoises and terrapins, though the type they belong to is usually specified and added to the name, as "marina" for sea turtles, "de río", for freshwater species and "terrestre" for tortoises
are turtles and tortoises different