A rare yellow flapshell turtle has been rescued from a canal in the Ambikapur area of Faridpur’s Sadar upazila, forest officials have said.
The turtle was spotted by a youth, named Riyad, a resident of Ambikapur village, on Sunday afternoon when he had been fishing in the canal in Biswas Dangi.
The turtle was subsequently caught in a fishing net and handed over to the Faridpur forest department. The reptile is currently kept in a reservoir of the forest department at Gangavardi in Faridpur Sadar.
Faridpur Divisional Social Forest Officer Kabir Hossain Patwari said that the turtle is a unique and rare reptile. “It weighs about 1.5 kg and has a diameter of eight inches,” he said on Tuesday.
However, Ashikur Rahman Shomi, a student of zoology at Dhaka University, said that it’s very much possible that the Sundhi turtle species — matte and grey in colour — may have turned yellow due to genetic changes.
The Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department in Khulna has been informed. The next step will be taken as per their advice, said the forest officer.
