Nature Decided To Mimic Velveeta With This Turtle's Rare Disorder

Many joke about Velveeta or nacho cheese looking unnatural, but maybe it's not too far off from a natural occurrence.

Kylin

• Published in Animal Stories
• November 23, 2021

A farmer in West Bengal, India made quite the discovery recently. While working in his field in the village of Sujanpur, in Odisha’s Balasore district, the farmer came across a very unusual sight, a bright yellow turtle!

The farmer collected the turtle and brought it to his home before delivering it to forest officials who in turn contacted their local conservation experts. Turns out, this turtle is a rare albino flapshell turtle. It's bright yellow color shares a likeness with the florescent hue of nacho cheese, and that similarity caused the Twitter post to go viral.

Incredibly, this turtle is estimated to be about two years old. Quite a feat for a wild albino creature, as typically their bright coloration can make them an especially easy target for predators.

So, while it's albinism is rare on it's own, this turtle is especially rare at its age! Siddhartha Pati, the executive director at the Association for Biodiversity Conservation shared with the media: “This is the first time in Odisha and second time in India that an albino turtle has been found.”

Another member of the Indian Forest Service, Susanta Nanda, shared a video and picture of another albino turtle that was found in Sindh a few years ago by locals. You can view her pictures, along with the ones taken of this most recent one below!

After going viral, folks online started comparing this turtle to the same sort of neon orange as melted cheese.

Yummm.

The likeness is definitely there.

The Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) is a freshwater species of turtle found in South Asia.

Indian flapshell turtles are widespread and fairly common in the South Asian provinces. It is known as an evolutionary link between the softshell and hardshell aquatic turtles.

What is albinism?

“It is a congenital disorder and it is characterized by complete or partial absence of tyrosine pigment,” Siddhartha Pati explained.

“Also, sometimes a mutation takes place in the gene sequence or there is a deficiency of tyrosine,” he continued.

Just a cute little dollop of nacho cheese in a bucket.

The Indian flapshell turtles diet consists of frogs, shrimp, snails, aquatic vegetation, plant leaves, flowers, fruits, grasses, and seeds. This range of food means it is an omnivorous creature.

In stark contrast, regular flapshell turtles look much different than their albino relative.

The shell of the Indian flapshell turtle is believed to have many medicinal uses and is ground into powder to make traditional medicines. However, there is no scientific proof of such medicinal benefits.

Likely, this is a myth boasted by smugglers to sell their shells, which is illegal.

You can check out video of this neat turtle here!

Thankfully, this brightly colored turtle was released safely back in to nature.

This flapshell turtle lives in other South Asian countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Although their habitat runs far, their Conservation status is currently at Vulnerable.

A vulnerable species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that is threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve. In this case, their shells being used as medicinal is causing harm to their population.

Hopefully, things will turn around for them soon, and maybe this Nacho Cheese Turtle can find a lovely mate to create more striking offspring.

Kylin