{"id":329552,"date":"2026-03-05T03:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329552\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T03:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:21:09","slug":"its-2350-miles-long-spans-31-us-states-and-is-home-to-a-100kg-animal-with-a-tongue-that-looks-like-a-worm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/329552\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s 2,350 miles long, spans 31 US states and is home to a 100kg animal with a tongue that looks like a worm"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mississippi River flows for around 2,350 miles through the heart of the US. It drains an area of 1.2 million square miles \u2013 that’s roughly 40% of the country \u2013 and at certain points is 11 miles wide. It is North America’s second longest river, behind the Missouri River.<\/p>\n

Rising from Lake Itasca in Minnesota, the Mississippi winds southwards through a range of environments, draining water from 31 US states before reaching its delta at the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. <\/p>\n

The sheer size of the river and the diversity of habitats it passes through make it a refuge for a huge range of animal species, including more than 260 fish, 326 birds, 50 mammals and at least 145 amphibians and reptiles, according to the National Park Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MississippiThe Mississippi River flows from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: Rainer Lesniewski\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

There are many weird and wonderful animals<\/a> living within the Mississippi’s vast waters, but surely one of the strangest is the alligator snapping turtle.<\/p>\n

This prehistoric-looking reptile<\/a> is massive. It can weigh up to 100kg and males can grow well over half a metre long, making it the largest freshwater turtle in North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And as if its size wasn’t enough, the alligator snapper has a host of other characteristics that make it one of the Mississippi’s most striking creatures, including a dark, spiky shell (known as carapace), a brick-like head and a sharp, hooked beak. With such a formidable appearance, it’s easy to see how the turtle got its ‘alligator<\/a>‘ name.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the turtle’s most curious feature is a worm-like appendage found on its tongue, which it uses as a lure to catch prey, such as fish, amphibians and invertebrates. Alligator snappers are also quite happy scavenging for food.<\/p>\n

Alligator snapping turtles can live for up to 100 years. Credit: Smithsonian\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mississippi River flows for around 2,350 miles through the heart of the US. It drains an area…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-329552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}