#1494 · 🦎 reptiles
Common Snapping Turtle
🇳🇱 Bijtschildpad ·Chelydra serpentina
📍 Cook County, US-IL, US
📍 Olney Manor Recreational Park, Olney, MD, USA
📍 Bolivar Peninsula, TX, USA
📍 5900–5998 Weslemkoon Lake Rd, Addington Highlands, ON, CA
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Alyssa Harvey · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © lwolfartist · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © Tommy Farquhar · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Tommy Farquhar · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Paul Danese · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 6. © Abbie King · CC BY 4.0
- 7. Cook County, US-IL, US:© Joey Santore · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Olney Manor Recreational Park, Olney, MD, USA:© Dan Treadwell · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Bolivar Peninsula, TX, USA:© Mike Nelson · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. 5900–5998 Weslemkoon Lake Rd, Addington Highlands, ON, CA:© Nina Carrano · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
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).
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 127,693 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Common Snapping Turtle
- Nederlands
- Bijtschildpad
- scientific name
- Chelydra serpentina
- class
- Reptilia
- order
- Testudines
- family
- Chelydridae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 29
- sightings worldwide
- 127,693
- GBIF records in NL
- 10
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 39682, Wikidata Q289435, GBIF 2441905, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.