NH Motorists Brake for Giant Snapping Turtles
Driving along Route 155 in Lee yesterday I was surprised to see this prehistoric looking monster trying to cross the road at Coppal House Farm. At first glance I thought it was an alligator.
Whenever you see any creature that you normally don't see too often, there is almost always a natural reason for it.
I thought initially that this beast was out to lay it's eggs but apparently that happens later in the Summer.
After a quick check of some turtle fact websites and I found a great quote from Audubon magazine that this is mating season.
Between mid-May and late June, snappers disperse upstream from shallow ponds and marshes, sometimes for weeks, looking for well-drained, exposed ground, anywhere the sun hits for the majority of the day—blowdowns, fields, west-facing roadsides, sandbanks and dunes, construction sites, muskrat and beaver lodges. - Audubon Magazine - The Staying Power of Snapping Turtles
Unfortunately, on my ride home along Route 125 later that same day, I saw a snapping turtle that met it's fate and laid dead along the double yellow line.