Melanochelys trijuga
Silhouette: SeismicShrimp · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The Indian black turtle (Melanochelys trijuga) or Indian pond terrapin is a species of medium-sized freshwater turtle found in South Asia. Their shell is a typically made up of shades of dark brown, green, or grey, not just black. Their heads feature even more variation in color, as different subspecies may have pink or yellow spots. The average shell is about 6 inches long, while the entire body is usually about one foot.
The species occurs in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, and the Chagos Archipelago, where it may have been introduced. There are five recognized subspecies with overlapping distributions: M. t. trijuga: peninsula black turtle, India
M. t. indopeninsularis: Bangladesh black turtle, India, Nepal M. t. thermalis: Sri Lanka black turtle, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka The Indian black turtle inhabits a variety of water bodies including ponds, marshes streams, rivers and artificial water bodies like... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Mysore Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Bioparque Municipal Vesty Pakos | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 6 | Jijamata Udyaan | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 8 | Thiruvananthapuram Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 10 | Children's Park, Guindy | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Rákosův pavilon | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 12 | Velemlokárium | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
No species of the same family or order lives in Wilpattu National Park, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Black Turtle sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 25 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 14 reptiles we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Black Turtle in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March, the lowest month. That is one of Wilpattu National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain against 320 mm in November.
Between 5 and 8 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian Black Turtle sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Yes
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Indian Black Turtle sightings, Wilpattu National Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Nagarhole National Park (India, about 50%) and Bandipur National Park (India, about 30%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Indian Black Turtle is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Wilpattu National Park (25 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
