LEAF-CHRONICLE (Clarksville, Tennessee) 07 November 06 Snapping turtle shells out a lesson for Barksdale kids - 119-pound, 52-year-old snapper wows students (Melissa Tyndall)
Photo at URL: Kerry Alsbrooks lifts an alligator snapping turtle while showing the animal to Barksdale Elementary students Monday. The 119-pound reptile has been living in Houston County and tracked by Austin Peay researchers for 11 years. (Greg Williamson)
Barksdale Elementary School students crowded outside Monday to learn about the largest recorded alligator snapping turtle in the state.
Scott Sutton and Kerry Alsbooks, who captured the turtle Monday to monitor it, brought the reptile to the school to teach students about the species.
"It's cool," 9-year-old Rashonda Gold said. "When I first saw him looking at me and my friend, I was surprised."
Students jumped, squealed and eagerly asked questions about the 119-pound turtle, but that was just part of educating the students about what may otherwise seem a scary or threatening animal.
Alsbooks, a home inspector, father and amateur biologist, helped get the turtle to Barksdale Elementary because his children attend the school. He has garnered a reputation at the school for bringing in reptiles because he wants to teach children about animals he said are here for a reason.
"We really like to do these sort of things to promote conservation of animals — they are not bad or mean. They are important to protect," Alsbrooks said. "To actually physically see one is just amazing. To see the largest one on record is just a bonus."
Students learned the turtle was a 52-year-old male — something determined by the turtle's size, the length of his tail and layers of skin on the creature.
Female alligator snapping turtles usually only weigh about 40 to 50 pounds.
Students also learned the turtle cannot pull its head into its shell, cuts prey with its sharp, beak-like mouth, makes no sounds and captures fish and other animals using a worm-like lure attachment on its tongue.
According to Floyd Scott, a professor of biology at Austin Peay State University who earned his doctorate at Auburn University, the turtle was first captured by duck hunters on White Oak Creek in 1995 and given to APSU.
The turtle, then weighing in at about 129 pounds, was also hunting ducks.
"We've been in touch with it off and on for 11 years," Scott said. "It was interesting to see this turtle again after so many years. That reinforces the site fidelity that these turtles exhibit — they don't just wander all over the country. They establish a home range."
Scott added the turtle's demand for oxygen is low and it spends the majority of its time completely submerged and at the floor of a body of water.
"This animal, this species, is very aquatic and very secretive. It does not bask on rocks like other turtles. This species is pretty much restricted to our larger rivers and impoundments. You are not going to find this in upland ponds and farms — those kinds of things are not common," Scott said.
While local biologists monitor the turtle's nature by tracking its weight, length, keeping up with any injuries and establishing its moving patterns, there are larger issues at hand. The alligator snapping turtle, while not endangered, is listed by state wildlife agencies as being a "species in need of management" to protect it from becoming endangered in the future.
"I think most people are interested in conserving such an impressive animal," Scott said. "The general person and sportsman are coming around to conservation and are taking pride in the animals out there."
119-pound, 52-year-old snapper wows students