Giant 100-year-old snapping alligator turtle vanishes without a trace along North Carolina interstate

It is unclear where Thanos, the giant alligator snapping turtle, has disappeared to, but one theory is that he could have been stolen

A 100-year-old alligator snapping turtle named Thanos has disappeared after he and his owner were travelling along an interstate in North Carolina.

Thanos is described as a 140-180 pound, 38-inch bright yellow turtle who is a century old.

The turtle was on his way with Dan Hemby to the Durham Reptile Expo, travelling down Interstate 40 in Durham, when Mr Hemby noticed something was wrong.

“We weren’t even maybe 30 minutes away from the convention centre, and we get there ... first thing I see is all three straps were popped open and moved to the side and the grates were moved over,” Mr Hemby told ABC11.

Mr Hemby was travelling from Jacksonville en route to the expo convention centre and believes that Thanos could have possibly been taken at a rest stop just outside of Benson, where he last checked on the turtle.

Mr Hemby has asked people to let him know if Thanos spotted, but to not handle him if they do (Courtesy of Dan Hemby)

He told the outlet that Thanos was strapped in well in a secure container, so he couldn’t have bitten or strong-armed his way out, and has theorised that “somebody messed with him, I honestly don’t know what to think”.

“It’s almost like losing a piece of myself, to be honest with you,” he said to ABC11.

Mr Hemby even went to check for blood marks on the highway but did not appear to see any. He explained that if Thanos did fall, he probably would get scraped up.

He added that the first thing Thanos would do is “go for water”.

“If you see him, please let us know. Be careful. Do not handle him,” Mr Hemby said to the outlet.

“He couldn’t go out as far as regular turtles or regular common snappers. If somebody stole him, please just get him home or just make sure he’s safe.”

Alligator snapping turtles are not known to attack people, but their bite force is so powerful it can snap through bone (Getty Images)

Alligator snapping turtles are a freshwater species found in the United States, the National Wildlife Federation said.

They add that while these turtles are not known to attack people, their bite force is so powerful it can snap through bone, so they should not be handled in the wild.

Last month, an alligator snapping turtle bizarrely turned up in Cumbria in the United Kingdom, despite being usually found in southern US states.

The turtle, named Fluffy, was spotted in a small lake on the edge of a village and was taken by local vets who planned to transport him to a specialist reptile centre.