Snapping Turtle Mating Ritual

Published on Sep 28, 2009
I was walking our Farm property in Dent county Missouri on 09-15-2009, and at a distance, I saw a disturbance in one of our ponds. I thought it was maybe an otter playing or a grass carp feeding. The closer I got, I noticed it was two approximately 25 pound snapping turtles fighting or wrestling, I found out later from the Wildlife center of Missouri, it's a mating ritual. I watched them bite each other and they appeared violent, but I didn't get that on video. I had my Olympus camera with me and shot 3 short videos. Make sure to turn up the volume. I watched them for about twenty minutes.