Indian Black Turtle

The Indian black turtle, or Indian pond terrapin, is a medium-sized freshwater turtle of South Asia, found in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal. The shell is dark brown, green or grey, not just black, and head colour varies, with pink or yellow spots depending on the subspecies. The average shell is about 6 inches long and the whole body about a foot (Wikipedia, general species account).

Five subspecies are recognised, two of them in Sri Lanka: M. t. parkeri and M. t. thermalis, the Sri Lanka black turtle. It lives in many kinds of water body, from fully aquatic still or moving water to less aquatic places, and is omnivorous. It is most active at the start or end of the day and spends much of the day basking, whereas the Sri Lankan subspecies tends to spend the day in or below the ground. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).