Big Critter, Big Impact

Your Investment Helps Protect Alligator Snapping Turtles

Dinosaurs live among us. One glance at the fearsome-looking Alligator Snapping Turtle will surely convince you. The huge reptiles sport spiky shells and primitive-looking faces. Three pointed ridges along their shells run from head to tail. Alligator Snapping Turtles are the largest species of freshwater turtle. Males can weigh up to 175 pounds. Their lifespan can be up to 45 years, or longer in captivity.

Creeks and bayous in the Houston region are home to these solitary creatures. They can be found living in the southern United States from northern Florida to eastern Texas. Alligator Snapping Turtles spend their lives in slow moving streams and, until recently, were not suspected of being able to survive in Houston’s urban and suburban waterways. But in recent years a healthy group of turtles was discovered in one of our most urban streams—Buffalo Bayou.

These turtles need natural streams that have not been altered or channelized, so keep your eyes open along parts of Cypress Creek, Spring Creek, and other rivers to the north. Not easy to spot, the turtles can spend up to 50 minutes underwater before surfacing to gulp air, and they blend well into their native habitat.

Alligator Snapping Turtles are threatened by development and changes near the streams they live in and by illegal hunting. You make a difference when you invest in Bayou Land Conservancy’s mission.