SIZABLE SNAPPER

The alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys spp.) is the largest freshwater turtle in the entire North American continent, and is widely distributed in the southeastern United States. Apart from M. temminckii, two more species were described under the genus -- M. apalachicolae and M. suwanniensis -- and this implies that each of the turtle’s populations are actually smaller than what was previously considered when all were still regarded to belong to one species, M. temminckii.

Alligator snappers are capable of reaching shell lengths to about 70 centimeters and weights of about a hundred kilograms; size-wise, they are only rivalled by the Asiatic soft-shelled giants such as Chitra chitra, Rafetus swinhoei, and Pelochelys cantorii, the latter occurring in the Philippines but very rarely.