The alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world. It is often associated with, but not closely related to the common snapping turtle. They are the sole living member of the genus Macrochelys--while common snappers are in the genus Chelydra. The epithet temminckii is in honor of Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck.
Read more about Alligator Snapping Turtle: Distribution and Habitat, Description, Fossil History, Diet, Reproduction and Lifespan, In Captivity, Conservation Status
Famous quotes containing the words alligator, snapping and/or turtle:
“Every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery, as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end, and within a few days see it rapidly going out. So the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Man is not merely the sum of his masks. Behind the shifting face of personality is a hard nugget of self, a genetic gift.... The self is malleable but elastic, snapping back to its original shape like a rubber band. Mental illness is no myth, as some have claimed. It is a disturbance in our sense of possession of a stable inner self that survives its personae.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“The second day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,”
—Unknown. The Twelve Days of Christmas (l. 4–6)