'A face only its mother could love': Ugly, cranky, endangered alligator snapping turtles get boost from Illinois students, who raise and release them into the wild

CHICAGO - North America's largest freshwater turtle can grow to more than 240 pounds, with a slimy, algae-crowned shell, gaping jaws capable of snapping a broomstick in half, and a hooked beak, perfect for slicing up prey.

The alligator snapping turtle has been described as a monster, a dinosaur throwback and, in a newspaper headline, "the big ugly."

But don't tell that to Catherine Zdunek. Smiling wistfully during a recent interview, Zdunek ran fingers tipped in lavender nail polish over the dry, spiky shell of a young alligator snapper named Roger. "This one was my little baby," Zdunek, 18, said of the 7-inch turtle, which she helped care for this past year as a student at Chicago's Whitney Young Magnet High School. Roger indulged his human admirer by sitting still, his eyes open, his fearsome jaw politely shut.

Zdunek put