🐾 Common Snapping Turtle

Chelydra serpentina · wildlife atlas entry

← Wildlife Atlas · A–Z

The common snapping turtle ( Chelydra serpentina ) is a large freshwater turtle of the family Chelydridae. Its natural range extends from southeastern Canada, southwest to the edge of the Rocky Mountains, as far east as Nova Scotia and Florida. This species and the larger alligator snapping turtles are the only Macrochelys species in this family found in North America (though the common snapping turtle, as its name implies, is much more widespread). Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.

Common Snapping Turtle — reference photo from iNaturalist — (c) Alyssa Harvey, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Alyssa Harvey · cc-by-nc

Record card

Scientific name	Chelydra serpentina
Rank	species
Community observations	127,689 research-grade records on iNaturalist

Classification

kingdom Animalia › phylum Chordata › class Reptilia › order Testudines › family Chelydridae

Seen in the wild — community photographs

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2020-08-29 · Williamson Dr E, Ajax, ON, CA
(c) Hannah Westrik, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2026-09-11 · Westminster, London, ON, Canada
(c) John Sproule, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2026-10-23 · Oklahoma, US
(c) Chris, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2026-06-30 · Eagle Township, KS, USA
(c) Caitlin Schoeck, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2016-06-09 · St-Bruno-de-Montarville, QC, Canada
(c) Michael Hentges, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2026-09-08 · Ste Anne, MB R5H 1E3, Canada
(c) Sean Choiselat, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Common Snapping Turtle photograph by the iNaturalist community — 2026-09-15 · Burpee St, Fredericton, NB, CA
(c) Peter Fraser, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) · cc-by-nc

Photographs are Creative Commons-licensed observations from iNaturalist, credited as each licence requires. Click any photo for the full research record.

All Common Snapping Turtle records on iNaturalist → · Encyclopedia entry (Wikipedia) →

Data: iNaturalist open API · stored on this server by the wildlife build so a page request never reaches the network · observations filtered to research grade with photos.

Wildlife Atlas — real photographs

🦁 All species

Animals chosen by hand, plus every species the world photographs most — each with real research-grade photographs from the iNaturalist community.

🔤 Every species, A–Z

The full atlas in one page: 403 species in alphabetical order.

🦋 Monarch Butterfly

Famous for a two-to-three-generation migration across a continent each autumn — no individual makes the round trip, yet the map is inherited. Milkweed is the only nursery its caterpillars accept.

🐅 Bengal Tiger

The most numerous tiger subspecies, mostly inside India’s reserves. Fewer than 4,000 remain wild — an increase from the ~1,600 lows of the 1970s, proof that protection works when funded.

🐆 Snow Leopard

High-central-Asia ghost: fur the colour of scree, a tail nearly body-length for balance on cliffs. Counted from camera traps and scat DNA because almost nobody has ever seen one at close range.

🐼 Giant Panda

A carnivore’s gut on a bamboo diet — it must eat 10+ hours daily. Downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016 after reserve expansion grew wild numbers by roughly 17% in a decade.

🐘 African Savanna Elephant

The largest land animal: up to 6 tonnes, ears that work as radiators, and a matriarchal memory for water across decades. A keystone engineer — whole landscapes depend on their browsing.

🦊 Red Fox

The widest-ranging land carnivore on Earth — native across the northern hemisphere and introduced (and damaging) in Australia. Hunts rodents by hearing, pouncing ear-down into snow.