Baby Snapper!

 

It's a baby snapping turtle on a bed of sphagnum moss. Cute, right? I found it yesterday in a shady spot near a shallow stream in the New Jersey pine barrens. Click to enlarge.

It was small enough to pick up without risking a bite. We took a look and then put it back where we found it, no doubt causing it to wonder what the heck had just happened. 

It will grow up like this. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, adult common snapping turtles range from 8 to 35 pounds and can live up to 30 or 40 years.

Here's hoping the little one makes it to the year 2061 and becomes a wise old turtle.