Schramm Education Center mourns death of Big Snap, world's largest snapping turtle

Big Snap Daddy, the iconic common snapping turtle believed to be the world's largest of his species, died Monday at the Schramm Education Center near Gretna, devastating visitors and staff who cared for the educational ambassador for more than three decades.

The turtle was estimated to be between 96 and 100 years old and weighed 102 pounds when he was last weighed in March. His health declined rapidly over the weekend, leading state officials to humanely euthanize him.

An angler pulled Big Snap from the Missouri River near Peru in the early 1990s when he was already nearly 50 pounds and around 70 years old. Rather than keep the enormous turtle for himself, the fisherman donated it to the state for educational display.

Tony Korth, the Schramm aquarium director who joined staff around the time Big Snap arrived, said staff never expected the turtle to thrive for three decades more. Big Snap doubled in size in captivity, enjoying a diet that included bison, rainbow trout and venison.

The turtle lived in the lab of University of Nebraska-Lincoln herpetologist Dennis Ferraro for two years in the late 2010s while the state built him a custom 600-gallon tank, which opened at the Schramm Education Center in 2019.

Over the weekend, Big Snap became unable to hold his head above water as his breathing labored and his heart rate dropped to six beats per minute, prompting Ferraro and other experts to make the difficult decision to euthanize the suffering animal.

Despite his decades at the facility, Big Snap never warmed to staff, maintaining a nasty temperament and readiness to bite if anyone got too close. Yet his caretakers grew deeply attached to the prehistoric-looking creature.

Thousands of people delighted in learning about and observing Big Snap during visits to the educational center, with many returning throughout their lifetimes as the turtle became a symbol of the natural wonders found across Nebraska.