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From: Laura Harris, Director of Media Relations
318-342-5447, lharris@ulm.edu
ULM biology professor helps British film crew capture bayou's predator
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| Carr |
“I told them my ability to help them would depend entirely on the weather,” said Carr. Like most reptiles, snapping turtles tend to become dormant as the balmy days of summer fade to brisk fall mornings.
But in spite of the mild November temperatures, Carr and biology graduate student Mitch Ray were able to lead filmmakers to the mother lode – three massive snappers found in the last of several nets. Two of the alligator snappers weighed in at more than 100 pounds – the size of a small child.
“It was incredible,” he said. “I would’ve been surprised to find just a single snapper given the temperature, but to see three in one net, and especially that size, is extremely unusual.”
Another interesting fact is that one of the turtles was among those Mitch had tagged earlier in the year with a transmitter.
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| Steve Backshall, host of "Steve's Deadly 60", holds an alligator snapping turtle found in Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. |
Conservationists consider the Alligator Snapping Turtle, or Macrochelys temminckii, a “species of concern.” The species is protected to varying degrees by state laws throughout their range in the southern portions of the U.S. Carr and his students have carefully documented the snapper’s nesting habitat, discovering dozens of nests along a railroad causeway adjoining the lake, and numerous others along forest-field edges and in the forest.
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| ULM graduate student Mitch Ray (left) assists Steve Backshall in weighing an alligator snapping turtle. |
Carr, who earned his doctorate in zoology from Southern Illinois University, said the half-hour BBC segment is scheduled to appear on a program called, “Steve's Deadly 60,” though he hasn’t been notified of the exact date yet. The prehistoric looking creature may have intrigued BBC filmmakers because of its bone-snapping, powerful jaws.
Carr did a similar tour in April 2007 at Black Bayou, when an Icon Films crew documented Carr’s innovative research for "Nick Baker's Weird Creatures 2," a television series created for the Animal Planet that features unique and unusual animals.
“In fact, Steve Backshall (host for “Steve's Deadly 60”) said he was going to have to call and tease Nick about what we were able to find this time around,” said Carr, with a laugh.