Snapping Turtles!

I have never seen a snapping turtle in the entire time that I've lived in MA.

Today, I saw not only ONE... but TWO of these prehistoric looking creatures!

As we were leaving for Preschool, Dave looked out the window and saw something in the grass. "Is that a turtle?" he asked.

We all walked outside for a closer look, and sure enough... there was a large turtle on the lawn. Dave told us that it was a snapping turtle, and warned us to stay back or it could bite our toes off.

Check out those big beady eyes!

We could see where the grass was matted down behind him, showing the path it had taken as it walked up toward our house from the river.

We thought it was odd that it was walking in the wrong direction, away from the water. Dave was concerned that if it continued the way it was going, it would cross right over our busy road.

I took a few pictures so we could show Eva's preschool teacher, who is a real nature lover. I was fascinated by the spiky tail, which reminded me of the dinosaurs we've seen in Eva's books.

When I showed Mrs. McCarthy the photos, she confirmed that it was a snapping turtle. She guessed that it was probably on its way to lay eggs.

After Preschool, Liam and I bought groceries and then met a friend to go walking. And what did we see just the street from my friend's house? Another snapping turtle!

I started to wonder if there was some sort of symbolism in the fact that I had seen TWO turtles within an hour of each other, in completely different neighborhoods. Dave is competing in another 5K race tonight, along with some of his c0workers. Slow and steady wins the race, perhaps?

Later in the day, the girls and I did some research on snapping turtles. Sure enough, their peak egg laying season is in June and July. They sometimes travel far from their home looking for sandy soil to lay their eggs in.

We also learned that their defense mechanism is snapping or biting because their bodies are too large to hide inside of their shell.

I was reminded of the girls' favorite show, Wild Kratts. On that show, they feature certain animals and talk about their "creature power", their catchy term for "defense mechanism." I suggested that they write Chris and Martin a letter asking them to do a show about snapping turtles. Of course, Amanda's eyes lit up at that suggestion.

It was an interesting science lesson for all of us, that's for sure.