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Index of Subjects Hi Hans, On 24-Jun-09, at 1:15 PM, Hans Toom wrote: > There tends to be more support for Peter Hope's position on not > handling the animal by the tail, than not. > > From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Snapping_Turtle , > perhaps not a scientific resource but usually fairly reliable. "It > is a common misconception that Common snappers may be safely picked > up by its tail, with no harm to the animal; in fact, this has a high > chance of injuring the turtle, especially the tail itself and the > vertebral column". This is part of the "lore" that I was referring to. The Wikipedia is not a scientific publication as you point out, and the entries in it vary a great deal in reliability depending on who has written and/or contributed to them (which one can't determine), so it is effectively an anonymous source. In the case of this entry on snapping turtles, you'll notice that the cited source for the statement above is a blog: http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/2008/06/24/handling-snapping-turtles-chelydra-serpentina-and-other-large-turtles/ Written by someone called "Frank" that, in turn, says: "Do not lift snappers by their tails, as is often done – this will cause severe injuries to the spine and internal organs." Which again is an unsupported assertion by an almost anonymous source. This may or may not be true, but I've tracked enough "urban legends" that circulate without substantiation on the Internet to want to have a source in fact before I necessarily believe it. ;-> Thus far, I haven't found it and John Gilhen, an expert herpetologist, says that it is not true. Cheers! Chris Christopher Majka - Atlantic Canada Coleoptera http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/NHR/atlantic_coleoptera.html c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca
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