Staying alive

I think this lady has a few years on her; although I suppose, this could be a he. However, since I am writing this story, this turtle is a her.

I like knowing that's she's been crawling from the Lynches River swamps to the open fields beyond them to lay eggs, doing what she does, being what she is. There is comfort in being sure of who and what you are, and in knowing that you are exactly where you need to be, doing what is needful.

If the eggs of snapping turtles are not found and eaten by other turtles, birds, raccoons, foxes, bullfrogs, snakes, etc., and if they are not disturbed and destroyed by something else, and they survive to become hatchlings, and then they survive that stage of their lives to become larger, and older, there are few animals that prey on them and their hardened shells.

Got it. Hardened shells make for longer lives. For snapping turtles. And humans?