Rare Yellow Albino Turtle Saved in Western India

Rare Yellow Albino Turtle Saved in Western India
TT
20

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.



Hundreds of Firefighters Battling Wildfire in Southern France

An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
TT
20

Hundreds of Firefighters Battling Wildfire in Southern France

An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)
An Airbus H125 helicopter drops water over a wildfire in Saint-Julien Les Martigues, northwest of Marseille in southern France on July 18, 2025. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP)

Nearly 1,000 firefighters and helicopters battled a wildfire about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of France's second-largest city Marseille on Friday, but officials said lower temperatures and increased humidity had improved the situation.

The 240-hectare (593 acres) wildfire flared up a week after a separate conflagration reached the northwestern outskirts of Marseille, forcing people to evacuate or into lockdown and temporarily shuttering the area's airport.

Pierre Bepoix, the colonel of rescue operations and deputy director for the area's firefighters, said 150 people had been evacuated, but firefighters had managed to save 150 homes and portions of the area's forests.

"It was a fire that swept through relatively dense vegetation ... which made our work particularly complicated," Bepoix told Reuters. "Obviously, priority was given to the preservation and protection of these homes and the lives that could be in these buildings."

Local officials said in a statement that 120 homes had been threatened by the fire, adding that it was not possible yet to identify any possible damage to them, and that two firefighters had been injured.

Meanwhile in Spain, a wildfire that broke out on Thursday evening in the central Toledo province and could be seen from downtown Madrid, ravaged 3,200 hectares of woodland.

Regional emergency services said early on Friday firefighters had secured the perimeter, though there were concerns over strong winds and high temperatures forecast throughout the day.