Recently, a rare albino flapshell turtle that looks like a slice of melted cheese has gone viral on social media. This unique yellow creature was rescued in West Bengal, India. Keep scrolling to know more!
A farmer in the village of Sujanpur, in Odisha’s Balasore district, spotted the unusual turtle when he was working on his field. He then brought it to his home and handed it over to forest officials who later contacted conservation experts.
The experts believe that it is an extremely rare adult albino turtle, about two years old. “This is the first time in Odisha and second time in India that an albino turtle has been found,” Siddhartha Pati, executive director at the Association for Biodiversity Conservation told the media.
According to Susanta Nanda, who works at the Indian Forest Service, another albino turtle was found by locals in Sindh a few years ago. She also shared a video and a picture of the turtle.
Speaking about albinism, Siddhartha Pati explained: “It is a congenital disorder and it is characterized by complete or partial absence of tyrosine pigment,”. “Also, sometimes a mutation takes place in the gene sequence or there is a deficiency of tyrosine,” he continued.
After shared on Twitter on October 27, the pictures of this bright yellow turtle went viral. They shook the world a little. Interestingly, people started comparing it to cheese as it somehow looked like a slice of melted cheese.
This flapshell turtle also appears in other South Asian countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
You can see the video here.
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
Now, this adorable rare albino turtle has been released back into the wild.
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