Reilly M.

1. Ask the snapping turtle. Patrick H. Reilly M.

2. Introduction • Name of animal: snapping turtle • Scientific Name of animal: Chely Draser Pentina • Vertebrate or Invertebrate: vertebrate • Class of animal: Reptila • Other names of animal: Big Bad Bitter

3. If I go close to a lake and I see a turtle how will I know if it is you or not? You will know it is a snapping turtle because I’m a brown and green vertebrate. We are 3 to 6 inches tall and 8 to 9 inches long. That is about the size of a house cat! One thing that is special about us is are strong jaws for snapping at are pray. Two different names for us are Chelydra Serpentina and The Big Bad Biter. Some things weird about us is are legs and tails have a yellowish color on them! That is how you will now if I’m a snapping turtle or not.

4. People tell me you live in forests, Is that true? I don’t live in forests. I live in fresh watered ponds, shallow edges of lakes, and slow moving streams. You usually find me in states in southern Canada to western equator. That is my habitat.

5. Food Chain

6. Since you are a omnivore what things do you eat, and what eats you? Because we are omnivores we eat plants and animals. Some animals I eat near the water are fish, bugs, frogs, salamanders, and water birds! A lot of animals like to eat us too. Some of animals that eat us are skunk, fox, and raccoon. Those are some thing that eat me and I eat.

7. Is it true that you lay eggs and how do you make eggs. Yes it is true. I nest near water and lay eggs on sandy land. My babies look just like me but smaller. I don’t necessarily take care of my turtles but sometimes they come back for the Winter. To lay eggs first we find a mate. Then we lay eggs in Summer or Fall. We turtles can lay twenty to forty eggs. All snapping turtles lay eggs.

8. If an animal is chasing you how do you get away? We have a lot of fast ways to get away. One way is to go in the water and hide under plants or mud banks. We are also very fast swimmers, but most of the time we hide in are shells. A lot of humans harm us by making turtle soup! Those are some way we can survive animal and human attacks.

9. How do you attack your pray? There are many ways that I can attack my pray. One way that I can attack my pray is by using my massive head with a hooked jaw. That can inflict a serious bite! We are New York States reptile! We are very aggressive reptiles.

10. Works Cited Videos from www.youtube.com or www.arkive.org Blomquist, Christopher. Snapping Turtles. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group Inc. 2004. “Turtle.” World Book. 2013 ed. Snapping Turtle 11/27/2013 HTTP:// WWW. exploring nature. org