Leah and i were on our way into town for dinner on Thursday when we saw a turtle crossing Technology Parkway, a four-lane, divided road. As we approached we realized it was huge. I thought it was a snapping turtle. We turned around and went back to make sure it crossed safely. When we got out of the car and approached it, we realized it was not a snapping turtle. But it was still huge, the largest turtle I have seen that was not a snapper.

Here it is with Leah’s foot for scale.

It was northbound in the east-bound lanes, so it had the rest of those lanes, the grassy median, and the west-bound lanes to cross. Traffic was very light, but we were afraid it might be hit, so I picked it up and carried it to the far side of the road. I found a wet place near a boggy creek to put it down, and after posing with Leah’s foot, it scooted off.

The turtle was close to a foot across and weighed at least 10 pounds. I held it just aft of the center of its shell, just within reach of the claws on its hind legs. When I picked it up it immediately started making swimming motions. The back claws just barely scratched my hands. I held it out away from my body because I expected what came next — urine. As a non-physician, I would say that it was a healthy, clear stream that missed my clothes but might have dripped on my shoe.

Just before we picked it up a pickup truck came from the west and stopped. The couple inside said the turtle looked like the one they had moved a few days ago, on that day traveling in the opposite direction.

I did some online research and decided it was a river cooter (Pseudemys concinna), which I had never heard of. A distinguishing feature is a C shape on the second scute. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that when I had it in my hands, and it can’t be seen in the photo. The shell was wet and a little muddy.

Based on the Web site information, the other turtle that can be confused with the river cooter is the Florida cooter, but the Florida cooter’s range covers south Georgia, not north Georgia. So river cooter seems to be a good guess.

From the Wikipedia page on river cooter: “The name “cooter” may have come from an African word “kuta” which means “turtle” in the Bambara and Malinké languages, brought to America by African slaves.”