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Hello Chris -
I have a friend who is trained in law but knows little about science
who tells me he is an expert on snapping turtles. He stopped his car one day
to avoid running over one, and got out and carried it across the road where
it would be safe. He tells me he now knows from experience if you ever do
this you should carry the turtle so that its side is pointed toward you.
Otherwise you can get very wet.
Roland.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Majka" <c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 3:53 PM
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Handling Snapping Turtles
> Hi Hans,
>
> The page that the Wikipedia references:
>
> http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/2008/06/24/handling-snapping-turtles-chelydra-serpentina-and-other-large-turtles
>
> Is signed "Frank" and has no reference to a full name or biography.
> Irrespective of this, my point does not pertain to whether we only
> know him as "Frank" or "Frank Indiviglio" with a Masters degree in
> biology; unsupported assertions, are just that - unsupported
> assertions. Is there any documentation that such handling has ever
> resulted in "severe injuries to the spine and internal organs"? Maybe
> there is: but if so, no source I've looked at seems to offer any
> facts, just unsupported assertions.
>
> People with varying degrees of expertise (or lack thereof) can
> speculate or state; but that's not the same as having any evidence
> that supports the case one way or the other.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Chris
>
> On 24-Jun-09, at 2:41 PM, Hans Toom wrote:
>
>> Hi Christopher,
>>
>> In reference to "Frank" and his blog, here's his background,
>> http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/about/
>> He has a masters in Biology and is a consultant for several zoos.
>> To abruptly refer to his wikipedia submission as "Written by someone
>> called Frank", attempts to make his opinion anonymous and of no value.
>>
>> Hans
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Majka"
>> <c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca
>> >
>> To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 1:58 PM
>> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Handling Snapping Turtles
>>
>>
>>> 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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