The Slow and Steady

Often on a lookout for the iconic species like a tiger or a leopard, one misses out on the smaller (though not lesser) important fauna of the forest. Indian black turtle, one of the most common terrapins in Indian subcontinent is one such animal. Earlier believed to be a peninsular species, it's reported distribution saw a northwards shift in 1980s. In 1994, it was reported in the then Simbalbara Wildlife Sanctuary, a small protected area in the Shivaliks in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The sanctuary has since undergone expansion and is now a flourishing national park by the name of Col. Sher Jung, the nature loving freedom-fighter from the area.  The National Park may actually be the northern-most habitat of the terrapin in India, which interestingly coincides with it being one of the northern-most areas of Sal forest distribution as well. More recently (in 2020) the amphibian has also been reported from the Aravali ridge forests in Delhi. The omnivorous turtle is active at dawn and dusk and usually basks sluggishly in daylight. The species breeds in monsoon and lays eggs in winters which then hatch in subsequent summers. An extremely shy animal, any carelessness in approaching the habitat will surely result in the individuals silently slipping into the waters, from which they are never far. 

An Indian black turtle from Col. Sher Jung National Park, HP

Tortoise & Turtles through History & Mythology - The terrapins have rich presence in history and mythology. Its astounding that out of all majestic and burly beasts, hindu, chinese and native american mythology talks about a cosmic turtle carrying the burden of the world. A 6000 year old stone-plate from ancient Egypt, shaped as a Nile soft-shell turtle, is on prominent display at Fine Arts Museum, Lyon. Be it a 15^th century BC kudurru (stone inscription) of Babylonia or the 7^th century BC stater (coin) from ancient Greece, our fascination with the animal has been as steady as the guy himself. The black turtle is one of the four animals of Chinese astronomy and goes back to 5^th century BC, sharing parallels with a period when Kurma or Kasyapa appears in Yajurveda (and Hindu mythology as the incarnation of Lord Vishnu).

The case of Adwaita - In due course, the life-expectancy of the tortoise also got its fair share of flood-lights. Robert Clive, the first British governor of Bengal is said to have received a pet Aldabra (Seychelles) tortoise after the battle of Plassey in 1757. The tortoise (later named Adwaita) was already past 100 when the Uncle of Europe, Edward VII, visited India in 1875 (the same year Adwaita moved to the Alipore Zoo in Calcutta). Adwaita lived to see India get its independence, emergency and economic reforms. It was only an opening up of the carapace and a subsequent infection, that lead to its demise in 2006, aged 255 years.

Administrative Turtling - In my own present avatar of a bureaucrat, shades of the tortoise are often seen on the leisurely speed with which certain precarious issues are dealt. The save-your-head maneuver of the beast also seems to have influenced the risk-averseness of a few of our ‘practical and experienced’ guiding lights who then very rightly label the rational actions of a young officer as the doings of a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Safely tucked inside their shells, they pass seasonal variations and the rotational motion of earth as changes brought by them in the system.

Interestingly, fossils of this timid creature from Pleistocene period have also been recovered from the Shivalik hills, suggesting that the species might be a resident here from a million years. Well, looks like the slow and the steady does win the race after all.