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The name sounds dangerous and filled with energetic intent. But snapping turtles are nothing of the sort.
If you ask Dan Brunton, he will suggest you could lose a finger to a snapper’s bite, but it just doesn’t happen.
“They are very benign,” says the Ottawa naturalist and ecological consultant. “If you provoked one enough, its bite is ferocious and lightning fast. Its head is out and back in the blink of an eye.”
“But I have stepped on one accidentally and nothing happened and I’ve certainly never been bitten by one. They really are benign critters.”
That’s just as well since Ottawa boasts an extremely healthy snapping turtle population, much of it burrowed away in the slop at the bottom of the appropriately named Mud Lake, a patch of wilderness in an urban setting off the bike path that runs through Britannia.
This is urban Ottawa’s most ecologically significant landscape and it provides a home to hundreds of species of wildlife. Wander through and you may see raccoons, foxes and frogs, more than 400 native plants and at least 200 bird species.
And then there are the turtles—pond turtles, Blanding’s turtles and snapping turtles. They love it here in this shallow wetland off the Ottawa River south of the Deschenes Rapids. There is loads of biological activity here generating from dead fish and aquatic vegetation.
Snapping turtles could be described as mud larks, since mud is where they most like to wallow, and Mud Lake has plenty of that. While it is great for the turtle, it is not so wonderful for the casual watcher trying to catch a glimpse of one.
The snapping turtle is so well camouflaged as to be almost invisible to people peering over the railings on the boardwalk.
But there are better and worse times to go hunting because the snapper has predictable routines, depending on the time of year.
Most of the summer, it spends its time crawling through the underbelly of ponds, eating away like the scavenger it is.
“It is hardy and tough,” says Francis Cook, who spent 34 years as curator of reptiles and amphibians for the National Museum of Natural Science (now the Canadian Museum of Nature). “I’ve studied the damn things since I was 10 years old.”
“When snapping turtles are small, they might be eaten by larger fish and even bullfrogs, which will eat just about anything that moves. But they have no predators when they get big.
“Snapping turtles are scavengers. They eat dead fish and any kind of downed animal.
“They sit on the bottom, wait for something to swim by and shoot out their long necks to grab it.
“For a long time, duck hunters were very down on snapping turtles because they lurk under the surface and simply suck young ducklings under for food.
“I can tell you, if those hunters saw a female snapping turtle venture from a nesting site onto the road they would run them down, never giving it a second thought.”
If you are on the hunt for a snapping turtle sighting in summer, be on the lookout for a good-sized piece of old bark lying under the surface or a solid patch of bright green algae. Either might be a snapper.
Now search for the shape of the head of a snake by keep your eye open for any water motion. You might get lucky.
When winter comes, you will see nothing. “They lie at the bottom of the pond, breathing through their skin very, very slowly,” says Mr. Brunton. “They are right in the muck at the bottom, maybe three degrees above freezing … their hearts beating four times a minute. These guys are out like a light in the goop.”
It’s breeding time that gives us the best chance of a sighting and, believe me, this is not a small turtle. A mature snapper can weigh in at 15 to 18 kilograms and measure maybe half a metre in diametre.
It lumbers out of the water in May or June and goes looking for a mate. If you are lucky, you might find a couple in a loving embrace. Public displays of affection and copulation do not embarrass them.
Probably the best chance of a close look comes when mothers find themselves a place to nest. Mounds of gravel are favourites.
Mr. Brunton, who lives 350 metres from the entrance to Mud Lake, says snapping turtles can be like a parade as they carry themselves across the park to the site of the old tram tracks that run behind Regina Elementary School. The tracks were built on cinder, Mr. Brunton says, and make a tremendous spot for giving birth.
Another fine sighting spot is Petrie Island, a complex of islands and wetlands located on the south shore of the Ottawa River stretching from the foot of Champlain Street to Trim Road in Orleans. “There is a gravel causeway going to the island,” Mr. Brunton says. “In May and June, the turtles will be lining up on the side of the causeway, like a traffic jam, waiting to lay their eggs.”
And they produce plenty of them—anywhere from 20 to 40 is normal. Mr. Cook recalls finding 83 eggs in a snapping turtle dissected at the museum.
When you make a sighting, it will be immediately obvious this is an extremely old resident of Earth. Its gnarly back and distinctive tail and head conjure up visions of the dinosaur era.
“They came well before the dinosaur,” Mr. Brunton suggests. “When evolution got to the turtle and established this critter, there was always a sense that they decided ‘OK, it works for me, so why change.’ And they haven’t.”
Mr. Cook suggests they look a lot more ancient than they actually are. “Those tails look very dinosaurian,” he says. “But our records don’t go back that far.”
Experts willing to put an age on snapping turtle evolution suggest 40 million years and claim they are the ancestors of about 80 per cent of all turtles today. Whatever the age, you cannot help but draw one obvious conclusion. These creatures are ancient!