Monday, June 6, 2011

Are you aware of Alligator snapping turtle ?

Taxonomic classification of the alligator snapping turtle Macrochelys temminckii (Troost, 1835):
   
Kingdom Animalia-
Phylum-Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Testudines
Family Chelydridae
Genus-Macrochelys
Species-M. temminckii
   
Home:
   
Live in rivers, lakes, rivers and other freshwater
   
Largest freshwater turtle in North America
   
Also found in South America, Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River
   
Can stay submerged for three hours and seldom sun
   
Women come out of the water only to lay eggs
   
Features:
   
- Large, dark brown and heavy head
   
- Solid shell with three disconnected and fortified ridges on the dish and making it a scary and armored
   
- Cephalothorax This is a combination of black, brown, gray and olive green, while the eyes are surrounded by yellow lines to help them camouflage underwater

- Star-shaped, yellow and fleshy filament (lashes) around the eyes.
   
- Average weight of an adult is £ 175 (the heaviest was 236 pounds measured in the Brookfield Zoo in suburban Chicago)

- Long, muscular tail with a thick bottom

- Many fleshy warts on their skin

- Webbed toes with large, solid nail

- Plastron (lower scale) is smaller than the carapace

- A vermiform (worm-like) tongue is present in their mouths, which they use to lure and eventually capture

- Their bites are the second strongest in the world
   
Differences between male and female alligator snapping turtle;
   
Alligator snapping turtles adult male is larger than females and grow about 16-32 inches
   
The tail of the wife is thinner than that of men
   
Cloaca woman was found near the plastron, a grown man, away from the carapace border
   
Identification is possible using a specific "sexing probe, but that should be strictly carried out by an expert
   
Diet:

They are carnivores and eat mainly fish, amphibians, mollusks, worms and other small creatures, but if necessary, convert them into omnivores or scavengers too.
   
Reproduction:

Mating occurs in spring season
   
Nest dug approximately 50 meters of water for their eggs to protect against floods
   
Approximately 30 days after mating, a clutch of 10-50 spherical, white and hard-shelled eggs are laid by female
   
Incubation temperature determines the sex of the race
   
Boy surface after 100-140 days and return to the nearby water bodies
   
They can survive more than 100 years

Last words:
   
Alligator snapping turtles are aggressive, then be careful!
   
They were warned by various human activities. Protect them!

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