Jun
9
2015
It was the largest turtle I ever saw on the side of the road opposite me as I was taking a trip into town. I stopped my car to check it out. It was almost ten inches long near a brook a foot from the road. It did not have the orange and black markings–the common marking of a box turtle. Its shell was brown. I approached it carefully and examined it from a safe distance. I suspected it was a snapping turtle. And I did not want to get bit. I decided to leave it alone and check on my return trip if it was still in the same spot. It was not. It had disappeared. At home I verified it was a snapping turtle. I had never seen one before. I certainly did not want to mess with it. It was the first snapping turtle I had ever seen. Usually the turtles I see on the side of the road are box turtles.
