This is rapidly turning out to be the year of the teratological turtles. Yesterday we posted a bizarre halved turtle, and now we have a partial albino softshell:IT MAY look more like your Christmas turkey just before it goes into the oven, but this milky white creature is actually a rare white turtle.
The creature, whose creamy colour is offset by a few hints of pink, was discovered by the bank of the Yellow River in Henan province, China.
White turtles have a special place in Chinese culture, as the classic novel Journey from the West features an
entity from Heaven who is turned into one of the animals after performing ill deeds.However, unlike the character in the tale, this white turtle won't be ferrying any people across rivers: it is just 40cm long
and 6.5kg
I've seen many smooth and spiny soft-shells. The females wander some distance from rivers to lay their eggs, usually just before a good rain.
ReplyDeleteNow, I've never caught one on land for a very simple reason that they can extremely fast. For an almost entirely aquatic animal, you certainly don't expect that sort of speed.
That albino Chinese soft-shell has something like the spines on the front of its carapace that you would find on a spiny soft-shell (although not as prominent, of course).