Rare Yellow Albino Turtle Saved in Western India

Rare Yellow Albino Turtle Saved in Western India
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Rare Yellow Albino Turtle Saved in Western India

Rare Yellow Albino Turtle Saved in Western India

A bizarre turtle that is bright yellow has been spotted in a village pond in West Bengal, India. The rare animal is afflicted with a form of albinism, which affects its coloration and has been compared online to melted cheese on a burger. It belongs to a rare species called the Indian flap shell turtle.

Sneha Dharwadka posted images of the turtle on Twitter and suggested two potential explanations for its bizarre coloration. "It's an albino kind whose peculiar yellow color may be caused by either some genetic mutation or congenital disorder due to absence of tyrosine pigment," he says.

According to The Daily Mail, the Indian flap shell turtle, which is normally green, is typically found in South Asia and is between 9 to 14 inches long. In August, a similar animal of the same species was discovered in Nepal. At the time it was compared to a mythological incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu.

These two events make up just the fifth and sixth sightings of albinism in this species.

Kamal Devkota, a reptile expert who documented the previous find, said the reptile had a deep spiritual significance. "Not only golden animals but turtles overall have significant religious and cultural value in Nepal," he said.

"It is believed that Lord Vishnu took the form of a turtle to save the universe from destruction in his incarnation. In Hindu mythology, the upper shell of the turtle denotes the sky and lower shell denotes earth," he explained. Vishnu's turtle avatar, known as Kurma, is today worshipped in a number of temples in India. The golden turtle owes its remarkable color to chromatic leucism — a condition characterized by a loss of color pigmentation. Leucism usually results in white, pale, or patchy skin, but in this case it leads to yellow pigments.



India’s Monsoon Rains a Fifth Below Normal So Far

Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)
Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)
TT

India’s Monsoon Rains a Fifth Below Normal So Far

Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)
Indian commuters use umbrellas during a hot afternoon in Kolkata, India, 14 June 2024. (EPA)

India's monsoon has delivered a fifth less rain than normal so far this season, the weather department said on Monday, in a worrying sign for the vital agricultural sector.

Summer rains, critical to economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy, usually begin in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by July 8, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, cotton, soybeans, and sugarcane.

India has received 20% less rainfall than normal since June 1, according to data compiled by the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD), with almost all regions except for a few southern states seeing shortfalls and some northwestern states experiencing heat waves.

The rain shortfall in soybean, cotton, sugarcane, and pulses-growing central India has risen to 29%, while the paddy-growing southern region received 17% more rainfall than normal due to the early onset of the monsoon, according to the data.

The northeast has received 20% less rainfall than normal so far, and the northwest some 68% less.

The lifeblood of the nearly $3.5-trillion economy, the monsoon brings nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers.

In the absence of irrigation, nearly half the farmland in the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar depends on the annual rains that usually run until September.

"The monsoon's progress is stalled. It has weakened. But when it revives and becomes active, it can erase the rain deficit in a short burst," an IMD official told Reuters.

The official sought anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Heat wave conditions are likely to prevail in northern states for a few more days, but temperatures could start coming down from the weekend, the official added.

The maximum temperature in India's northern states is ranging between 42 and 47.6 degrees Celsius (107.6 to 117.7 degrees Fahrenheit), about 4-9 C above normal, the IMD data showed.