STRANGE SOUDAN SOFTSHELL

Some weeks ago, when Fleur last visited, we showed her this. It is a softshell turtle carapace, which was donated to us by Lionel Beer from the collection of his late father. It has the word `Soudan` written inside, so presumably is African in origin.

It is interesting because of the unusually large fleshy `skirt` around it, which does seem atypical for normal softshell turtles, and even for the flapshell turtles (Cyclanorbis).

Fleur wrote to us afterwards:


Hello Jon, I found this on a site about ethnography; as you can see it is very similar to the shell you have and yours does have 'soudan' written on it. Obviously this one has been shaped as a shield and yours has not but it does look a lot like it.

The original posting includes this sentence:

"You find this type in the southern Soudan and different nilotic tribes are possible. Attached mine from the Bari. The shell is very hard and in my opinion a very good protection for every stick fighting match."