Conservationists and animal lovers were flabbergasted over the weekend thanks to one soft yellow turtle spotted strolling around eastern India. According to CNN, farmer Basudev Mahapatra found the turtle while working on Sunday in Odisha, India.
Mahapatra later handed the turtle over to forest officials, who contacted conservation experts for assistance.
According to experts, the turtle’s yellow color is a result of albinism, a mutation that can affect the color of the fur, skin and eyes of a number of animals. This specific turtle is known as an Indian flapshell turtle, which explains why it sort of looks like melted cheese.
"We find turtles and crabs regularly and we rescue them and release them into the water. But this is the first time in Odisha and second time in India that an albino turtle has been found," Siddhartha Pati, executive director at the Association for Biodiversity Conservation, told CNN.
Of course, a rare beauty like this couldn’t have gone unnoticed by the online community. Footage of the turtle went viral internationally.
"This turtle that was rescued, its skull and body are yellow, truly it is very rare,” Wildlife Warden Bhanoomitra Acharya told Asian News International. “I have not seen such a turtle in my life ever.”
