Even if you’re prepped knowing a man is about to pull an alligator snapping turtle from a river in Georgia, you’ll still need to see it to believe it. The thing is massive. It’s also really prehistoric looking, and to see its gaping mouth up close is something else.
Noah K. Fields is a Georgia-based naturalist and wildlife photographer who specializes in reptiles and amphibians. He recently shared a video on his Instagram profile showing an incredible find that he and some colleagues made during a permitted trapping survey.
In the video, he pulls a massive, 94-pound alligator snapping turtle from the Apalachicola River drainage to show viewers. He holds the turtle by its shell with its head facing the camera and its mouth open wide.
“Check that out,” Fields exclaims. “[. . .] We just took some measurements on this guy and we’re gonna release him back into the river.”
Fields gets out of breath as he narrates, adding that this is the biggest alligator snapping turtle he’s ever found in the wild.
Watch it here:
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Fields says alligator snapping turtles in the Apalachicola River drainage are declining and need further protection to prevent poaching and habitat degradation.
“Our southeastern river systems are a natural treasure, and it’s time to give the rivers and the animals that inhabit them the care and respect they are long overdue,” he wrote in his video caption.
Have you ever seen an alligator snapping turtle this big? We were not prepared for the moment he pulled that thing up out of the water.