Rare yellow turtle spotted in Odisha, experts say it could be an albino

Image: Twitter/susantananda3

A rare yellow turtle was spotted and rescued in Odisha’s Balasore district on Sunday. Locals rescued the animal and then called the forest department officials in the Soro block of Balasore district.

“The whole shell and the body of the rescued turtle is yellow”, Bhanoomitra Acharya, wildlife warden, told ANI. “This is a rare turtle, I have never seen one like this,” she added.

It is possible the turtle is differently coloured because it is an albino. “Most probably it was an albino. One such aberration was recorded by locals in Sindh (a) few years back,” said Susanta Nanda, an Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer, wrote on Twitter.

The turtle has pink eyes, which in the opinion of experts could be a sign of albinism.