In the soup

It's a mystery as to how this small reptile landed up in our bird bath. Perhaps plucked from a river or pond and dropped by a gull, or crow.

I don't believe it could have crawled here.

I phoned the local aquarium for help.
They were naturally closed but took my call and after looking at a photograph, had no difficulty in identifying it.

It is not as rare as you might think; apparently pet owners dump these in local waters when they get tired of them. The climate is too cold for eggs to grow to maturity so seeing hatchlings quite rare.

This particular one, Tartaruga verde is known more commonly as the Mottled turtle. It should not be confused with the Mock Turtle, a character from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.



For more on this fascinating creature, please see THIS LINK