Two large snapping turtles paddle through slightly murky water, both competing aggressively for pellet food that has been dropped above their heads. Their massive webbed feet fan out revealing long claws, which help them catch food and dig holes for their eggs in their wetland areas near ponds, lakes, streams.

These gray snappers clearly are not in their natural habitat, they’re being hand-fed in a 72-gallon tank next to the “Nature Trails” on the ground floor of the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor. “Turtle Alley,” the museum’s first live animal exhibit, officially opened last Saturday. The corridor, featuring two tanks separately housing snapping, painted and spotted turtles, drew 500 visitors young and old over the weekend.

Andrea Stark, executive director of the Maine Discovery Museum, sees “Turtle Alley” as a tool for educators in eastern Maine.

“A live animal exhibit isn’t part of the original mission of the museum,” she said. “But it is good for this area because there are few year-round outlets like this around. This is a wonderful opportunity to convey the knowledge of animals to children.”

Stark, entomologist Tony Sohns, and the museum’s Director of Education Trudi Plummer, spent about a year developing the exhibit. They chose to focus on turtles because children are so familiar with them and they saw the creatures as a vehicle for teaching about fragile wetlands.

“We’ve had some turtles in the museum before, and kids have always loved them,” said Stark. “There are endangered wetlands all over the nation, and if we can get kids interested in turtles at a young age then maybe these turtles and their ecosystems can be saved.”

The two snapping turtles displayed were donated by the Pest Management Office at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service in Orono. They keep company with a painted turtle and a spotted turtle. The latter was bred in captivity at a zoo in Rochester, NY. The snappers, which are much larger and more aggressive, are kept separately from the spotted and painted turtles. The latter share a 36-gallon tank with two goldfish. Above, turtles perch on large pieces of driftwood showing off their vibrant and intricately patterned shells.

“We have created a new line in our budget for the care and maintenance of the turtles,” said Stark. “It is somewhat costly to run the tanks, with the amount of electricity used in lighting them all the time. Keeping the animals healthy is expensive.”

Stark and Plummer took every possible precaution with the turtles before introducing the critters to their tanks.

“We will learn together with the first set of kids who come to see ‘Turtle Alley’ and discover what their questions are so we can develop this more, make changes, and provide more information if needed,” said Plummer.

The museum staff discourages parents from buying turtles for pets.

“We want children to come here and feel like these animals are their pets,” said Plummer. “Turtles are not easy to take care of, and they live a very long time. Parents who buy their child a turtle now will most likely still have it when their child enters college.”

Beside the turtle exhibit, museum staff have organized some reptile-related activities for children that include constructing tortoise shell rattlers and turtle mobiles. At 11 a.m. Friday, Penobscot storyteller James Francis will spin a folkloric tale for young ones about turtles.

“They are very fascinating to watch,” said Plummer, referring to the museum’s reptilian residents. “Everything in nature is fascinating, you just have to bring it to a child’s attention.”

The Maine Discovery Museum is located at 74 Main St. in Bangor. Museum hours are: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday; and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 262-7200 or visit www.mainediscoverymuseum.org.

Turtle talk

The average snapper lives up to 40 years.

Snapping turtles have NO teeth.

The biggest snapper was 18 inches long and weighed 45 pounds.

Tortoises mostly stick to land while turtles live mainly in the water.

Turtles have flippers while tortoises have legs.

On spotted turtles, the number and pattern of spots vary and change as the creatures age.