The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's YearBeebe, William
History
The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's Year
Beebe, William
Natural history -- Outdoor books
All turtles lay eggs, the shells of which are white and generally of a
parchment-like character. They are deposited in the ground or in the sand,
and hatch either by the warmth of the decaying vegetation or by the heat
of the sun. In temperate countries the eggs remain through the winter, and
the little turtles do not emerge until the spring. The eggs of turtles are
very good to eat, and the oil contained in them is put to many uses. In
all the countries which they inhabit, young turtles have a hard time of
it; for thousands of them are devoured by storks, alligators, and fishes.
Even old turtles have many enemies, not the least strange being jaguars,
which watch for them, turn them on their backs with a flip of the paw, and
eat them at leisure--on the half shell, as it were!
Leathery turtles--which live in the sea--have been reported weighing over
a thousand pounds! This species is very rare, and a curious circumstance
is that only very large adults and very small baby individuals have been
seen, the turtles of all intermediate growths keeping in the deep ocean
out of view.
Snapping turtles are among the fiercest creatures in the world. On leaving
the egg their first instinct is to open their mouths and bite at
something. They feed on almost anything, but when, in captivity they
sometimes refuse to eat, and have been known to go a year without food,
showing no apparent ill effects. One method which they employ in capturing
their food is interesting. A snapping turtle will lie quietly at the
bottom of a pond or lake, looking like an old water-soaked log with a
branch--its head and neck--at one end. From the tip of the tongue the
creature extrudes two small filaments of a pinkish colour which wriggle
about, bearing a perfect resemblance to the small round worms of which
fishes are so fond. Attracted by these, fishes swim up to grasp the
squirming objects and are engulfed by the cruel mouth of the angler.
Certain marine turtles have long-fringed appendages on the head and neck,
which, waving about, serve a similar purpose.
The edible terrapin has, in many places, become very rare; so that
thousands of them are kept and bred in enclosed areas, or "crawls," as
they are called. This species is noted for its curious disposition, and it
is often captured by being attracted by some unusual sound.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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