Morphological characteristics of the giant snapping turtle

Big snapping turtle The morphological characteristics of the snapping turtle
The snapping turtle (definite introduction)

The snapping turtle is a very strange-looking turtle It looks like a general who has traveled from ancient times to modern times. It is domineering and fierce. This is a turtle that can bite off people's fingers, and has powerful left and right jaws.

The true snapping turtle is only found in the Mississippi River Basin of North America. It is one of the most famous snapping turtles in the world. It maintains the characteristics of the original turtle, and its mouth, carapace scutes, and red tongue are all very strange. The left and right jaws at the front of the mouth are hook-shaped, like an eagle's beak, and are infinitely sharp, capable of biting off a person's fingers. The scutes on the carapace are brown, and the 13 scutes are like 13 hills vibrating continuously, arranged in three rows vertically and horizontally. There are many jagged protrusions on the edges of the carapace. The eyes are on both sides of the mouth, small and energetic. , there are many fleshy protrusions on the head and neck. There is a bright red worm-like fleshy protrusion on its tongue, which is connected to the tongue through the central round muscle. Both ends can expand and contract freely. Its tail is thin, long and as brittle as a steel whip. Unlike other turtles, its head and feet cannot be retracted into the shell.

The true snapping turtle looks exactly like a crocodile, integrating a turtle and a crocodile into one, so it is called the true snapping turtle. Its head is thicker and cannot be fully retracted into the shell. Its neck is short and strong, with brown thorns on the back of its collar. Its eyes are small, the left and right jaws of its mouth are small, its snout is pointed, and its tail is pointed and long, with ribs on both sides. There are fleshy spines, and there is a scaly raised rib on the front two-thirds of the back of the tail, which is in the shape of a serrated mouth. The back shell is very thin, and the epithelium is mainly brown, sometimes brown, and there are three hazy ribs on the back. And there are radial patterns. The plastron is smaller than the carapace and is in the shape of a "ten". The neck is grayish brown, and there are particularly long fleshy spines on the hands, feet, and tail base. The rear edge is tooth-shaped, the abdomen is white, and there are occasional small black freckles. It is black when young. The hands and feet are strong, the muscles are developed, the claws are sharp and powerful, and it is good at crawling.

The giant snapping turtle is huge in size. The adult turtle shell is 0.4~0.7 meters long and weighs 45~75 kilograms. The largest one can weigh 200 kilograms and is 0.75~0.9 meters long. , males are larger than females.


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