New Page 1

ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE

Kingdom All animals are members of the Kingdom Animalia.
This Kingdom does not contain the prokaryotes (Kingdom Monera, includes bacteria, blue-green algae) or the protists (Kingdom Protista, includes unicellular eukaryotic organisms).
All members of the Animalia are multicellular, and all are heterotrophs (that is, they rely directly or indirectly on other organisms for their nourishment).
Most ingest food and digest it in an internal cavity.

Phylum-Chordate-Chordates are defined as organisms that possess a structure called a notochord, at least during some part of their development.
The notochord is a rod that extends most of the length of the body when it is fully developed.
Lying dorsal to the gut but ventral to the central nervous system, it stiffens the body and acts as support during locomotion.
Other characteristics shared by chordates include the following (from Hickman and Roberts, 1994):

Order-Testodimes-

Family-Chelydrdae

Genius & Species-Macroclemys temminckii:

The Alligator Snapping turtle is the largest fresh water turtle
It is characterized by three large, pronounced ridges that run from the front to the back of the carapace.
It has powerful jaws and a large head, and it is unique among snapping turtles for having eyes on the side of its head.
The alligator snapping turtle looks very primitive and has been called the dinosaur of the turtle world (Levine 1994).
Return to top

Fun Facts

Alligator snapping Turtle

They are big they are strong they fear no one.

They are mean they are green they are like a machine.

They eat almost anything.

They are rough they rude and always in a mood.

They rise with the sun and then go have some fun.

Bibliographic Reference

"Aligator Snapping Turtle." 1995. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. 11 Feb 2004. <>.

Parenthetical Within Text

(Aligator Snapping Turtle)

MLA Citation
Bibliographic Reference

Fiore, Carrie. interview. 1995.