Hackney river 'croc' may be giant turtle

[emad]

Fears that a crocodile had set up home in a river have been allayed after zoologists said it was more likely to be a giant turtle.

The crocodile theory began when boat trippers on the River Lea in east London, saw a Canada Goose apparently pulled under water at speed.

But experts say an alligator snapping turtle, which can grow to about two metres, is a more likely culprit.

The creature may have been a pet which was released into the wild.

Mark Gallant, of the Lea Rivers Trust, who was on the boat, told BBC News it would be frightened away by the sound of a boat motor so traps would have to be set for it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4141092.stm

[beam me up scottie]

1. ACK !!!

a snapping turtle THAT large is just as dangerous, if not more.

I came across an ancient alligator snapper when I was a kid, back on my dad's farm.
His shell was more than 3 feet from front to back.
He hissed like a mountain lion.
Being stupid, I took a 3" diameter branch and held it in front of him (from a safe distance, of course-I'm not that stupid) and he snapped it in two like it was a toothpick.
:scared:

I kept hoping to catch another glimpse of him, but I never saw him again.
I searched for him for years.
He is, hands down, the most amazing and awe-inspiring wild creature I have ever met.
There is no way to know how old he was.

I'll tell you what, if a 2 meter snapper is in the water, you won't see him coming for you like you would a croc.
They don't have to surface to strike.
They sit on the bottom and wait for something to come their way.
Something like your leg, for example.

Here's a baby one:

Awww, isn't he cute?


Here he is a little older:



And this may be what is lurking in the depths of that lake:


But no matter how scary they are, when I see one in the road, I still pull over and put them safely on the other side.

[Taxloss]

2. Yikes!

At least it's not a rogue gorilla:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4153726.stm

"... a live gorilla for sale in London ..."

[Nihil]

3. Holy sh*t!

That second picture (i.e., the "slightly older" one) is ... I don't
know how to say it ... just "wow!"

The eye just looking at you ... the 'halo' around the eye itself ...
the edge of its bill like sharpened flint ... the colouring & texture
of its skin ... it's like a director's dream CGI of "the Rock Monster".

You suddenly get a good idea how this form of life has survived with
little change since the late Triassic (~220 million years ago).

Definitely *not* the sort of thing you want to meet while swimming ...