We Had A Visitor!!!

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The students of Onanole Elementary School had a surprising visit!  A local man rescued a prehistoric dinosaur!  Ok, ok….maybe not a dinosaur, but close!     

Mr. Shchewski brought by this cool guy for us to have a look at, of course from a safe distance.  This cool guy is a Snapping Turtle.  From his claws to his long spikey tail, he is definitely the closest thing to a dinosaur that we have seen.  He wasn’t particularly happy to be turned over so we could see what his belly looked like, but over all he was calm and patient.

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The students asked Mr. Shchewski a lot of great questions.  Some were answered and some he was unsure of, but a great opportunity to see something so magnificent!!  In all his years living in the surrounding communities he has never seen one so BIG!! 


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Everyone was guessing the turtles age.  There were a lot of numbers thrown out there.    Apparently you can make an educated guess by measuring the turtle’s carapace and counting its annuli rings.  Of course, the only accurate way to tell a turtle’s age is to know its hatching date.  So, I guess that we can keep guessing in wonder.

The snapping turtle was being release back into the area from which he was found.  Happy to report that his release was successful and he resides in this area, so maybe one day we will see him again…you never know!!