An unusual turtle was spotted near the village of Kuryk in the Mangystau Region on the shore of the Caspian Sea. The sea is a rather atypical habitat for this species, so its appearance has raised questions among specialists, infohub.kz reports.
According to Lada.kz, the footage shows a large marsh turtle with a dark shell, a head covered in small yellow spots, and similar yellow markings on its legs. In the video, it is hastily crawling along the sandy shore among shells.
Biologist Vasily Bastaev said the appearance of this turtle near the Caspian Sea remains a mystery. Specialists do not yet understand how it got there and whether it can survive long in salt water.
There are several theories. For example, the turtle could have entered the sea because of human activity. Residents of Aktau might have taken animals from lakes home and later released them when the pet became unwanted. The possibility of fishing nets is also not ruled out: turtles could have accidentally become entangled in them and ended up in the sea along with the catch.
There is also a more unusual theory. Perhaps turtles are gradually adapting to new conditions. According to Adilbek Kozybayev, executive director of the NGO ECO-SOCIAL, over time such adaptation could theoretically lead to the emergence of a new subspecies of freshwater turtle capable of tolerating salt water.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle reported that a two-headed turtle was found in a reserve in the United States.