My mother, my brother, and I were driving down a dirt road in Oklahoma when we saw a turtle. We stopped and got out for a closer look.

When we approached, he didn’t retreat into his shell. He was about the size of a cereal bowl and seemed unfazed by our appearance. We looked at him, and he looked at us.

My brother said we should take him home. Today, people are more environmentally aware and know that a turtle in the wild should remain in the wild. But at that time, a wild turtle seemed like a great idea for a pet.

So off we went, me in the back seat, my mother driving, and my brother and the turtle riding shotgun.

“I want to hold him,” I said, but my brother ignored me.

After pleadings from me and silent refusals from you know who, mom said, “Weldon, let your brother hold the turtle.”

It wasn’t a huge turtle, nor was it tiny. To me, it seemed just right, and we became instant friends. He stretched his neck out and stared at me. I spoke kindly to him and with a forefinger, gently stroked his nose.

It was during this pleasant exchange that the turtle latched onto my finger. I screamed, and my mother almost drove into a ditch.

My new friend, it turned out, was a snapping turtle. Having gotten hold of my finger, he was reluctant to let go, even when I held my hand aloft and shook it back and forth. My brother thought this was hilarious.

Mom stopped the car and managed to free me from the turtle’s grasp. She put the creature back on the road, and we drove away. My brother teased me for months about how funny I had looked with the turtle dangling from my finger.

Recently, I thought back to that childhood encounter and asked the Internet, “Are snapping turtles dangerous to humans?”

The first response I read said, “Not at all, as long as you don’t annoy them while putting your fingers in or near their mouths.”

Thanks. Now you tell me.

Another website said, “Snapping turtles are capable of biting, although they are more likely to scratch or wee on you.”

There’s something to be thankful for. At least I wasn’t weed on. (My brother would be laughing still.)

Turns out, there are two kinds of snapping turtles.

The kind that bit me is called a common snapping turtle and has a jaw strength of between 208 and 226 Newtons of force. A human jaw, in the molar area, has a strength of between 300 and 700 Newtons.

The other kind is the alligator snapping turtle, which can exert 1,000 Newtons of force and can do serious damage.

Both varieties are more comfortable in the water than on land. In water, they tend to swim away from people rather than bite. On land, escape isn’t so easy and they are more likely to do unto you as was done unto me.

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