He Got Too Close—And the Snapping Turtle Almost Took His Nose Off
You’d think someone who films wildlife for fun would know better. But nope.
Mike Loughran—a guy who fishes, takes photos, and helps animals—decided to film a snapping turtle up close. Real close. Like, nose-level close.
And the turtle? It almost turned his face into a snack.
He shared the video on Instagram, probably still shaking from how close he came to losing a chunk of his face. His caption said it all:
“This was almost a really bad BITE! Look how close this guy got to my face!”
He thought the turtle would slowly peek out. It didn’t. It launched forward like it was shot out of a cannon.
Mike was lucky. That bite could’ve sent him straight to the ER. His followers begged for the slow-motion version, and he delivered. The bite? It clocked in at 174 miles per hour. That’s not a typo.
The whole strike—lunge and snap—takes about 4 to 8 milliseconds. Blink and it’s over. Or in Mike’s case, almost your nose.
Let this be a reminder: snapping turtles are not to be messed with. Respect the jaws. Keep your face out of striking range.
About Author
Muntaseer Rahman started keeping pet turtles back in 2013. He also owns the largest Turtle & Tortoise Facebook community in Bangladesh. These days he is mostly active on Facebook.
