This prehistoric turtle was caught by a fisherman from Oklahoma, photographed, weighed and released.
Turtle weight = 45 kg
Body length = 61 cm
This turtle is called the vulture turtle. This species has existed on Earth for more than 20 million years and is an endangered species.
Let's find out more about them …
Vulture turtles (Latin Macroclemys temminckii) are the only species of turtles in the genus Macroclemys. Outwardly, they are very similar to the snapping turtles.
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They have a long hooked beak on the upper jaw. On the back, as a rule, there are three sawtooth longitudinal ridges, which are formed by the horny scutes of the carapace. The posterior edge of the shell of these animals is maximally serrated. In length, a vulture turtle can reach one and a half meters, and weigh about 60 kg, which is much more than a cayman turtle.
Vulture turtles live in canals, ponds, or streams in the southeastern United States of America, mostly in the Mississippi Basin, occasionally appearing in northern Illinois.
If you take a turtle in your hands, it will not bite right away - it will only show its wide and fearful mouth, while spewing fluid from the anal bladders. It should be remembered that even if the turtle looks calm on the surface, you should not risk testing its patience. If she feels the slightest threat, the offender will not be sweet.
The meat of these animals is highly valued. There are legends that the Macroclemys turtle, weighing 200 kilograms, was taken in Kansas in 1937, but this statement remained without evidence. The largest vulture turtle has been recorded at the Chicago Zoo, weighing 107 kilograms.
Alligator turtles spend most of their lives in the water. Females crawl out onto land to lay eggs. These animals have a solitary mode of existence. In the water you can meet them at great depths. Drifting in water, they do not actually swim on their own. Thanks to the crustaceans and the plants that live on their shells, they have an excellent disguise for hunting fish.
The vulture turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) inhabiting water bodies in the southeastern United States during hunting uses a form of mimicry that is quite common in the animal world, but, nevertheless, extremely fascinating form of mimicry - Peckham's mimicry. It lies in the fact that the predator lures the prey with the help of its favorite food, in the form of which, most often, it is not food at all.
For example, the vulture turtle has a worm-like appendage at the tip of its bright pink tongue. Sinking under the water and disguised among the algae in the silt, she opens her mouth and begins to imitate the movements of the worm with her tongue. Moreover, all this time the turtle must lie motionless so as not to betray its presence. After some time, the victim approaches the "worm", and the turtle's mouth immediately closes. Typically, reptile bait attracts fish, invertebrates and amphibians. But this turtle can also catch a snake, as well as another turtle.
In the video, you can see how a vulture turtle is hunting with its bait: