Snapping Turtles

This summer I made it a mission to try find the prehistoric looking Snapping Turtle in my home town of Toronto. It took a few weekends hitting up different spots but in the end was able to get some underwater shots.

These prehistoric freshwater turtles have tons of character and are known for their aggresive demeanour outside of water. In water they are fairly placid though and I was able to capture a rare mating shot of these turtles, as can be seen above. Female Snapping Turtles can even store sperm for several years and use as necessary!! They do have a delayed sexual maturity though with reproduction generally starting at 20 years.

These turtles are listed as a species of special concern in Canada and in the province of Ontario. Sadly though they can still be hunted and their numbers are on decline here. There are some organized movements here to try and stop the hunt with a petition even being submitted this year to the Ontario Legislature. Not much headway has been made yet but there are active groups like “Friends of the Snapping Turtle”, the ‘David Suzuki Foundation’ and the ‘Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre’ that are trying to make a difference.

~ by epic_underwater on October 10, 2012.