Farmer Stumbles Upon Peculiar Never-Before-Seen Yellow Turtle — It Has Scientists Scratching Heads

Aug 04, 2020

While it may seem as though every single animal and plant has been discovered on the planet, there are some occasional surprises that pop up. This time, a never before seen yellow turtle was spotted by a farmer in Sujanpur, India in July. This extremely rare yellow turtle has animal experts scratching their heads.

The farmer, Basudev Mahapatra, found the turtle while during work on his farm. The farmer took the farmer back to his home and handed over to local forest officials. Local forest officials were dumbfounded by this turtle's appearance so they contacted the Association for Biodiversity Conservation.

You would think that this point that these experts in the Association for Biodiversity Conservation would be able to identify the strange animal. Nope. Even the organization's director Siddhartha Pati confessed that he had never seen an animal like this before.

After some deep research, the Association was able to identify the animal as an Indian Flapshell Turtle. The turtle's unusual yellow tone was due to a genetic condition known as albinism. Albinism is a condition that is caused by the complete or partial absence of tyrosine pigment.

It should be noted that this amazing discovery would not have been possible if it were not for the smart thinking of Basudev Mahapatra. Some people may have taken the animal home and not have contact officials. This could have been a tragic situation for the animal if it required special care.

Also, it should be noted that anyone who finds an unusual animal in the wild should also be careful. All animals have some form of self-defense. Even innocent-looking turtles have powerful jaws that can snap finger bones if they are handled carelessly.

It should be rather surprising to note that finding strange and unusual animals is not all that uncommon. There are many normal animals that are born with birth defects or have some usual mutation that causes them to have an unusual appearance.

For example, a strange hoodwinker fish washed ashore along the beach in California in February of this year. This rare animal was two meters wide and is usually found in the waters around New Zealand. This was the first time in 130 years that a Hookwinker fish was found in the Northern Hemisphere.

Okay, have you ever heard of a "Headless Chicken Sea Monster?" No this is not some creature from a 1960's B-Movie. This animal actually exists in the real world. This usual marine animal was spotted off East Antarctica in 2018. This animal is also known as a sea cucumber which is usually found floating in the water while swimming and on the ocean floor when feeding.

Have you heard of the mysterious Kraken? This is the mystical sea monster made famous by author H.P. Lovecraft. Well, the Kraken was based on the giant squid - an animal that, for centuries, was never seen alive. That is until 2004 when the first photo of a giant squid was captured on film.

Did this yellow turtle fascinate you? Have you seen another animal so bright yellow like this before? Let us know your thoughts and be sure to pass this cool new animal on to others!