Are there really alligators in Sandwell?
On Friday's programme I had a close encounter with this charming lady. An American "alligator snapping turtle" pulled from a Birmingham reservoir by local angler, Steve Bellion. She's now living at the West Midlands Safari Park with a male for company. You can watch my live encounter with her .
Chatting to the experts at the Safari Park in the afternoon I said I assumed "alligator snapping turtles" we so called because they were turtles who could snap at something with the power of an alligator. Having seen this one demolish a tree branch that seemed to make sense to me. They have a surprising turn of speed and can crunch through almost anything unwise enough to get too close.
But actually, the keepers explained, they are so named because the shell looks just like the back of an alligator as it moves through the water. Looking at this picture you can see what they mean.
Which jogged something in my memory. Over ten years ago we ran a story about an alligator being spotted in a lake in Sandwell. Officials even closed the lake in question for a while as you can read .
Eventually it was decided it was likely the creature in question was probably a salamander. Something which always struck me as slightly unlikely. But what if it was another alligator snapping turtle moving through the water? After the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" craze of the 1980's it seems unwanted pet turtles ended up in lakes across the country. Adults have been spotted here and ever since and they make very convincing alligators especially if glimpsed from a distance.
These American turtles don't hibernate back home. But here they will slow down in winter and drop to the bottom of a lake in the cold. And any that don't make it through the winter will stay there. The heavy shell weighing down the body. Which also means after a few years of "alligator" sightings the appearances will stop and the evidence will stay out of sight.
That said if you do come across either an alligator or an alligator snapping turtle in Sandwell do stay away. Both will happily have your fingers off.
For those that really enjoy this sort of thing here's how we reported the Sandwell "alligator" at the time.
I'm David Gregory, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Science Correspondent for the West Midlands. My first law states: "Science is the answer." There is no second law. Feel free to drop me a line: 
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