132 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



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 I 

 This species is very rare, and a curious circum- 

 stance 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 crea- 

 tures in the world. On leaving the egg their first 

 instinct is to open their mouths and bite at some- 

 thing. They feed on almost anything, but when 

 in captivity they sometimes refuse to eat, and 

 have been known to go a year without food, show- 

 ing 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 



