- A group of herpetologists from the Arunachal Forest Department and the Help Earth and Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) has discovered a new tortoise speceis in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. This tortoise is so beautiful that it has been named ‘impressed’.
- The Impressed Tortoise (Manouria impressa) was found in Yazali area of the Lower Subansiri district.
- The male Impressed Tortoise is smaller than the female which is 30 cm in length. This Manouria species is one-third the size of the Asian Forest Tortoise
- With this first record of the tortoise in India, the total count has reached five and the non-marine chelonian count to 29.
- Chelonian (Testudinidae) is type of reptile that includes turtles, terrapins and tortoises.
According to the Guwahati-based Jayaditya Purkayastha of Help Earth, there are only two species of tortoises under the Manouria genus. India was known to be the home of only the Asian Forest Tortoise (Manouria emys) until the discovery of the Impressed Tortoise. - The Asian Forest Tortoise, the largest in mainland Asia, is found only in the northeast, as are 20 of the other 28 species of chelonians.
Differences between Tortoise and Turtle
- All tortoises are in fact turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises.
- They all belong to the order Testudines or Chelonia witch includes Tortoise, Turtle and Terrapins.
- Turtles can be aquatic, semi-aquatic, or mostly terrestrial. Tortoises are turtles that live on land and aren’t equipped for water
