Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A common snapper successfully catching and killing an adult Canada Goose. I know snappers will go after baby ducks and geese - just didn't realize they could take down an adult Canada goose. I guesstimate his shell was a good 12-14 inches in length.

I didn't have the camera out in time for the actual attack when I heard the flock suddenly going nuts (originally thought a hawk or eagle had dived after one of them and got stuck in the mud when I saw a bird floundering), but did get some shots after the goose was dead and the snapping turtle was making some attempts at pulling the head from the body. You can see his head sticking up out of the water in some photos and in two photos you can see he has one of his front feet planted against the goose's shoulder while he was pulling on the goose's head/neck under the water... pulled hard enough a couple of times to lift his shell up out of the water.

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That's amazing! I would have never thought they could pull down something that big!

Thanks for sharing that.
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Diego

Glad they don't get really big, no water sports for me!!! Amazing critters, great observation!
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Todd Hughes

insane
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Conservation is the key

Very interesting. How do you suppose it killed the goose? Did it look injured?

From the sound of your post, it appeared that the time between initial attack and death of the goose what somewhat short. That, along with its success of killing an adult goose, is surprising to me.

>>Very interesting. How do you suppose it killed the goose? Did it look injured?
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>>From the sound of your post, it appeared that the time between initial attack and death of the goose what somewhat short. That, along with its success of killing an adult goose, is surprising to me.

No the time was not short. I was on one side of a small lake almost directly opposite of where the attack occurred and it takes time to walk around to the other side. As to the method of death, that is easy. The nature of the bird says it all. Ducks and geese feed on a lot of SAVs (submerged aquatic vegetation). The area that the geese were in - the surface of the water was covered in duckweed (tiny free floating plants)... very easy for a snapper to hide near the water surface with the duckweed providing cover. The snapper apparently grabbed the bird while the goose had ducked its head under to forage.

Still surprising to me that the turtle was apparently "smart" enough to wait for the head while those tantalizing feet waved around in front of him. They frequently bite at my fins when float tube fishing ponds. Neat hunting behavior. Thanks for posting it.