A few years ago there was a show on Discovery, I think, staring a red
haired herpetologist (O'Toole?) that followed him around collecting all
sorts of beasties. One of the episodes was at Black Bayou Wildlife
Refuge here in Monroe. The local Fisheries and Wildlife boys were doing
research on snapping turtles in the bayou and had turtle traps set out.
One of the traps on the show had 4 snappers, the smallest of which was
probably a mere 25lbs and the largest maybe 80. The 8ft alligator in
the trap made for a bit of extra excitement.
When I worked at the local Zoo one of my duties was to clean out the
alligator pond. It had several gators, the largest measured about 10
ft, and several alligator snappers of up to 80lbs. To clean the pool I
drained it and then went in with scrub brush, push broom, and
waterhose. The gators were well fed and would move out of the way with
just a bit of proding with the broom. The turtles, on the other hand,
would stand their ground, rear up on their hind legs like a sprinter in
starting blocks and lunge at me if I came too close. Lost one broom to
one. One of the other keepers lost the hose that way. Bit clean in two.
Jerry Liles
Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>More than a finger I think. I remember a film where one bit in half a
>stick about as large as my wrist.
>
>Chuck Norcutt
>
>Paul Braun wrote:
>
>
>>Alligator Snappers are, truly, astoundingly large turtles. And can
>>remove a finger if you're not watching.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|