Snapping Turtle!

On Sunday, we had a visitor to our condo complex-a rather large snapping turtle. The turtle was hanging out at the entrance of our complex in a bit of a precarious position because it was risking getting run over by any entering car. So after looking at it for a while and taking pictures, one guy picked it up and redirected it back into the woods. Hopefully the turtle is back with its family now.

I had never seen a snapping turtle up close, and I was quite surprised by its size and the fact that it had long toenails and a long tail. The guy that picked it up said it felt like it weighed 20 lbs or so. I should say that the turtle did not seem overjoyed with being picked up and definitely made some snapping motions with its head, but the guy was careful and picked it up from behind so that he would reduce the chances of getting bitten. Below are some pics of the turtle.