Puppies have lungs. Goldfish have gills. Many species of shrimp breathe with their legs. Snapping turtles have two ways of getting their oxygen. They have lungs and they can absorb oxygen from water with their rectums.
Here are 10 weird facts about snapping turtles:
They Can Lure Fish Using a Built-in “Worm”
Alligator snapping turtles have a tiny, pink, worm-like appendage on the tip of their tongue. They sit motionlessly on the bottom of a river with their mouths wide open, wriggling their tongue to mimic a worm. When an unsuspecting fish swims in to grab a meal, the turtle snaps its jaws shut in milliseconds.
They Are Too Big for Their Own Shells
Unlike most turtles that can pull their heads, legs, and tails completely inside their shells for protection, snapping turtles have a much smaller underside shell (plastron). Because they can’t hide in their shell, evolution made them aggressive and defensive on land instead.
Their Shells Are Living Ecosystems
Because snapping turtles spend so much time sitting still in muddy, dark water, algae easily grows on their backs. In older alligator snapping turtles, their shells can become mini-ecosystems covered in algae, moss, small invertebrates, and leech colonies, providing built-in camouflage that makes them look like submerged logs.
More About Breathing Through Their Rear Ends
When lakes freeze over in winter, snapping turtles hibernate under the ice in muddy riverbeds. Since they can’t surface to breathe air, they survive using a process called extrapulmonary respiration—specifically, absorbing oxygen from the water through vascularized tissue in their cloaca (their rear opening).
They Can Survive for Months Without Oxygen
During winter brumation (reptile hibernation) under ice-covered water, common snapping turtles can go up to 100 days without taking a single breath of air or consuming oxygen, relying on specialized metabolic adaptations to survive extreme cold and oxygen deprivation.
Their Bite Strength is Often Overrated, But Still Dangerous
Despite urban legends claiming snapping turtles can easily sever human broomsticks or legs, a common snapping turtle’s jaw force is around 200–600 Newtons—similar to a human’s strong bite. However, an alligator snapping turtle can exceed 1,000 Newtons of force, which is easily powerful enough to break bones or sever fingers.
Nest Temperature Decides the Babies’ Sex
Like many reptiles, snapping turtles exhibit Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination (TSD). If the eggs in the nest are incubated at lower or higher extreme temperatures, they develop into females. Intermediate temperatures around 20°C to 26°C (68°F–79°F) produce predominantly males.
They Are Gentle Giants in Water, But Terrors on Land
Snapping turtles are notorious for being aggressive, but this behavior only happens on land where they feel exposed and vulnerable. When submerged in water, snapping turtles are surprisingly shy and docile, usually choosing to swim away or hide in the mud rather than attack humans.
They Are Prehistoric “Living Fossils”
Ancestors of modern snapping turtles have been around for over 90 million years, meaning they roamed the earth alongside T. rex and Triceratops. Their physical design has remained largely unchanged for tens of millions of years because it is so effective.
They Can Live for Over a Century
Snapping turtles are extremely long-lived. While their average lifespan in the wild is around 30 to 50 years, alligator snapping turtles can live well over 100 years, with some unverified estimates suggesting they can reach up to 150 years of age.