Snapping Turtles are powerful, enduring and delightful creatures that have been around for millions of years. Their evolution occurred earlier than other turtles and their rugged design hasn’t changed since. While the common snapping turtle has a wide distribution and strong numbers, in northern portions of the United States there can be merely 1-5 snappers per hectacre. Numbers within the southern United States can be more promising and have as many as 65 snapping turtles per hectacre. The alligator snapping turtle, on the other hand, is considered threatened and is protected by law in numerous states. The snapping turtle in fact, can lay clutches of 20-50 eggs, but only about 133 of every 1,300 eggs survive to depart the nest. Out of those 133 hatchlings, just 1 will survive to adulthood. Most eggs and hatchlings fall victim to predation within the first 36 months of life, if not before they even hatch. What some groups do is protect the nests and capture hatchlings when they climb out. These hatchlings will then be raised for about 3 years and released to the wild or just transported to the nearest lake safely.