A rare yellow turtle was spotted and rescued by a farmer in Odisha's Balasore district, which experts say is the product of albinism.
Locals from Sujanpur village in Soro block rescued the unique yellow colour turtle on Sunday (July 19).
One Basudev Mahapatra spotted the rare turtle when he was working in his fields and brought it home. Later, he handed over the turtle to the forest officials.
The creature's colour is due to albinism
Siddhartha Pati, executive director at the Association for Biodiversity Conservation, which works to protect wildlife and habitats, told CNN it was the first time he had seen this kind of turtle.
Pati explained that the creature's colour is due to albinism. "It is a congenital disorder and it is characterised by complete or partial absence of tyrosine pigment," he said.
"Also, sometimes a mutation takes place in the gene sequence or there is a deficiency of tyrosine."
"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," tweeted Susanta Nanda, senior IFS officer and chief executive of Chilika Development Authority.
Sharing the pictures of this turtle, Nanda said it also appeared to have pink eyes, a feature than indicates albinism.
(With agency inputs)
