I missed last week’s Photo Hunt because my blog was taken off-line. I ranted about it here.
Anyway, this week’s theme is FIVE. And as usual, my installment would be about terrapins, hohoho!
As you can see in the picture below, the river terrapin has four front claws, where as the painted terrapin (as well as most other turtles) has five.
The river terrapin’s claws are blunt (in the picture above) because we used to house them in concrete tanks with rough surfaces — in fact, I got scratched several times when I was brushing the insides of the tanks. We have since tiled the tanks as we know the sharp claws are essential for their survival once they are released.
So yea, the more recent batches of terrapins have needle-sharp claws that made it very difficult and torturous (for me) to weigh and measure them as they tend to scratch (and bleed) me. Mum advised me to wear a pair of heavy-duty rubber gloves but you know, it isn’t as convenient as handling them with my bare hands :(
Terrapins’ and semi-aquatic turtles’ feet are so the one thing that gets cuter and cuter as they grow up. I love those adorable, fat, paddle-like feet (as long as I don’t have to handle them :p).
And those are some impressive claws on the painted terrapin, painful-looking too though!
Isn’t it interesting how a small change in the claws can affect the entire survival of the terrapin itself?
Such an interesting post… I had a turtle picture too, but yours is much more informative! Thanks!
Interesting to look at . . . in a photo! Not in person! :-0
letha: Yea, Mum knows best, huh?
Becca: BINGO! But frankly, I don’t find their webbed-feet cute. I find their up-turned snout cute (you know, ugly but adorable??)..
Bernard: Yea, you were soo right about it. Little things like sharp claws do determine their survival (and of course other factors as well).
srp: You had a cute picture of turtles queuing up! :)
JHS: That’s why I’m here.. To show you to photos (only)! :)