Odisha: Locals rescue rare yellow turtle

Balasore: Some species of turtles are said to live for over 100 years. But yet, not everyone is lucky enough to see these beautiful creatures. Now in Odisha, an even more rare turtle was spotted!

A unique and rare yellow turtle was rescued by locals from Sujanpur village in Soro block of Balasore district on Sunday. The locals then called the Forest Department officials to the spot and handed over the turtle to them.

Speaking about the rescued reptile, Bhanoomitra Acharya, Wildlife Warden, said that it was a unique find and he had never seen a specimen like this before.

“The whole shell and the body of the rescued turtle is yellow. This is a rare turtle, I have never seen one like this,” Acharya said.

According to senior IFS officer Susanta Nanda the ‘turtle most probably was an albino. One such aberration was recorded by locals in Sindh few years back.’

A rare yellow turtle was spotted & rescued in Balasore, Odisha yesterday.

Most probably it was an albino. One such aberration was recorded by locals in Sindh few years back. pic.twitter.com/ZHAN8bVccU

— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) July 20, 2020

It also appeared to have pink eyes, a feature than indicates albinism, the IFS officer said sharing the pictures of this turtle on Twitter.

“One such aberration was recorded by locals in Sindh few years back,” Nanda posted.

“Close snap of the same. Mark the pink eyes, one indicative feature of albinism,” he added.

Several people on Twitter said they had never seen a yellow turtle before.

Last month, a rare species of Trionychidae turtle was caught by fishermen at Deuli Dam under the Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. It was later released by the forest department in Deuli dam.

Trionychidae turtles are softshell turtles, which are found in Africa, Asia, and North America. According to the forest department, the turtle weighed more than 30 kilograms and its maximum life is 50 years.

“Seems to be an albino snapping turtle? It’s albinism I think? We see similar ones in other animals as well. Recently they found an albino tiger in Kaziranga,” tweeted a user.

“Nothing new, it’s an Albino Indian Flapshell turtle, these turtles are found all over India (in normal colour offcourse). Though the species is common this particular specimen is very special as only 1 in 10,000 babies hatch as albino, chances of survival in wild are very low,” added another.