Common Snapping Turtle Canvas Print

The Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) is not as common as it was when I was young, having been hunted for its meat as Canada’s only “game” species of turtle, until finally listed as a species “of special concern” under the federal Species at Risk Act. Now every species of turtle native to Ontario is legally acknowledged to be at some level of risk. This oil painting is dedicated to the memory of Ario Gatti (1924 – 1965) who came to Canada from Yugoslavia, joined the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum on July 1, 1957, and loved to do underwater photography, not only in Oceans, but, like me, he was fascinated by what went on under the surface of our freshwater ponds, marshes, lakes and rivers. He was an early mentor of mine from my early teens into my very early 20s. He died tragically with a group of academics in a scuba dive tragedy on October 25th, 1965, as they were trying to get one last shipwreck dive in Lake Huron in before the close of the season....