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* here's Matt Keevil's response to this. Matt is doing his Ph.D. on
Snapping Turtle dispersal and population genetics in Algonquin Park in
Ontario.
fred.
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Fwd: [NatureNS] a wiener-eating snapping turtle !!!
Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 02:10:52 +0000
From: keevilm@gmail.com
Reply-To: keevilm@gmail.com
To: Frederick W. Schueler <bckcdb@istar.ca>
Hotdogs seem to be a popular junkfood item among snapping turtles.
Henry, the big hand feeding snapper at the Lake Opeongo [Algonquin Park,
Ontario] docks has been fed a pack of hot dogs in one sitting by the
owner of the outfitter store there (he also eats apple slices,
earthworms, pumpkinseeds and perch, trout guts, and bacon.) He very big
(41cm Carapace Length, 17.5kg) but his weight is just about exactly what
would be expected for a turtle that size. There is a smaller male at the
same site that also sometimes comes for food.
I've heard a bunch of stories of people hand feeding snappers and I
suspect this sort of habituation might explain other instances of people
reporting being approached by snappers.
-Matt
------Original Message------
Subject: [NatureNS] a wiener-eating snapping turtle !!!
Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 20:38:30 -0300
From: Dusan Soudek <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: NatureNS <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Members of my canoeing party were highly surprised (and amused!) by a
wiener-eating snapping turtle. The creature was totally wild, and large,
with a carapace length estimated at nearly 40 cm. It was proudly shown
to us by some campers at a popular access point to Hants County's
Herbert River.
The campers, who spend every Victoria Day weekend at the same site, feed
it raw wieners. They have been doing so for the last seven years. They
recognize "their" individual by an unusual mark on its carapace,
possibly an old scar. Apparently it "took them a long time to establish
trust," as one of the campers explained to me.
I witnessed the turtle swimming after and swallowing a floating piece of
wiener, and minutes earlier other members of my crew witnessed the wild
turtle being hand-fed.
It looks like the annual Victoria Day weekend feast on processed meat
does no visible harm to the ancient turtle.... Any other tame wild
snapping turtle stories?
Dusan Soudek
--
fred
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
South Nation Basin Art & Science Book
http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
--
fred
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre - http://pinicola.ca/bmnhc.htm
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
South Nation Basin Art & Science Book
http://pinicola.ca/books/SNR_book.htm
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
------------------------------------------------------------
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