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Population Surveys And Health Assessments Of Captive And Free-Ranging Alligator Snapping Turtles, Samantha Louise Hannabass

MSU Graduate Theses

Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) have experienced range-wide declines primarily due to overharvest for the meat market and habitat degradation in the form of damming and channelization of rivers. Head-start programs and reintroduction efforts have been initiated to release individuals throughout their historic range. Before releasing Alligator Snapping Turtles, sites need to be assessed to determine the suitability of habitat, if there is a robust turtle community already present, and the causes of the original extirpation have been eliminated. I assessed the turtle communities and documented anthropogenic impacts (e.g. boat traffic) at nine possible reintroduction sites in southeastern …