MULTAN, May 20: Is this the rare pig-nosed turtle found in the Manka drain? The drain in Dera Ghazi Khan is one of the oldest water channels in the area and it contains a large number of turtles of various ages and sizes. People claim to have seen turtles in the channel seemingly having a weight even more than a maund (around 40kg).

This channel has also become the target of turtle poachers and those who are fishing out the reptile there claim to bag sometimes even more than 100 turtles a day.

A close look at some of the Manka turtles reveals their resemblance with the species, which the scientists believe are found only in the Daly River in northern Australia and Fly River in southern New Guinea and is known as pig-nosed turtle. Its nose actually resembles a pig.

Like the pig-nosed turtles of Australia and New Guinea, the colour of the carapace of the Manka turtle is either grey or olive green and like the former two, it is also an omnivorous. However, the researchers and the zoologists this correspondent talked to did not agree to the idea of existence of pig-nosed turtles anywhere in Pakistan, though some of them stressed the need for a thorough scientific research on the types of freshwater turtles found in the rivers, canals, lakes and swamps in the country. — NS