I'm Coyote Peterson
and I just had an animal encounter that's gonna knock your socks off get
ready to see the largest freshwater turtle
in North America!
the water-logged landscapes of the south provide a rich and protected environment for a plethora of species
today the crew and I are exploring a private preserve in Homestead Florida
whether traveling by air boat over the saturated fields of Sawgrass
or trudging through on foot one thing is for certain
this is one seriously unforgiving habitat
on this particular morning we were looking for one in the preserves rarest resident
reptiles
this turtle is kept in a confined area but finding him amongst the plants and mind
is far easier said than done. sadly their numbers have greatly decreased over the
past quarter-century
and they're now protected throughout the range in the southeastern United States
and although the species doesn't naturally occur the Florida
Everglades
the environment was a perfect backdrop for a creature
that is considered an ancient legend of folklore myth
now let's sneak up slow on this and try not to startle anything that might be out
uh yeah there could be alligators
so just ah, be aware
something's...
hey hey something's moving right here hold on... keep up keep up
move it move it move it! It's a turtle!
it's huge it is HUGE it's an alligator snapping turtle!
hold on, let me it back around this way. WOW!
can you believe the size of that turtle? Holy cow!
Woah! Woah woah woah there buddy...
oh my goodness I saw these plants moving he started to burry down
look at the size of him! Man is he powerful!
there's no doubt about it this is the biggest turtle I have ever captured
wow look at that head!
jeez he's trying to get my face in his mouth
this could be a 100 pound turtle
LOOK at that swamp beast, my goodness
what an absolute dinosaur Wow
look at that mouth, my entire fist could fit inside there
and yeah...you would not
want to get your hand caught in the mouth of this turtle. Let's see if I can get him to put his head up
for us.
ok. Wow look at that...
have you ever seen something something so prehistoric?
look at his eyes, his eyes are just beautiful. now one of the
easy way to quickly identify an alligator snapping turtle
which as soon as I jumped in the water I knew it was an alligator snapping turtle
because of these three large ridge's that run along the top of the carapace
now a carapace is the top of the shell. Now common snapping turtles
the cousin to this species does not have these distinct ridges.
the plastron, which is the bottom of the shell on snapping turtles is quite a bit smaller
than other turtle species
and the way you can tell whether it's a male or female is that the males
have a slightly concave shell and females have a slightly convex shell
so this is a big boy, the males usually have tails that are quite a bit longer than
females as well
and I can also kinda see that he has some turtle parts. That is a huge turtle
that is a very very big turtle. Actually there was a story
in Kansas in 1937 of a 405 pound alligator snapping turtle
I'm guessing this guy's probably around a hundred pounds so if you can imagine
something almost four times the size
you really are talking about a dinosaur
So now the moment of truth, to find out how much this turtle weighs
uh I found a pretty good stick that I think is going to support
the weight of the turtle. I'm gonna use my pack
to build a harness to tie him in
and then I think gonna need your help Mark to hoist him up.
I'm gonna guess that this turtle is somewhere between seventy and a hundred pounds
one two three, up!
That is a heavy turtle, just at about ninety pounds
for this alligator snapping turtle a few more fish eaten
and this guys gonna break the century mark every time we encounter an animal
we like to make sure we are as gentle as possible
and right now he's just basically wanting to get back out into the water
this is you know slightly stressful situation for him
but I just try keeping calm and enjoy their company for the moment
and I really wanted to catch this turtle and bring it up on a shallower water
you guys could have the experience of being up close and personal
with one of the most ancient creatures on our planet. Wow
what an unbelievable encounter with the large freshwater turtle
in North America
the alligator snapping turtle. Now I'm sure you guys have plenty of questions
for me about this swamp beast, so leave me comments below
and let's talk alligator snapping turtles personal best for me
I don't know if I'll ever catch another turtle this big.
I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave stay wild will see you on the next adventure
ready to head back out there and catch some fish? Alright I'll walk him over here
in deeper water.
alright, and off he goes...
see you later big guy
if you thought that was one wild adventure check out these other animal
encounters
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on this season of Breaking trail