{"id":363604,"date":"2026-05-25T15:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T10:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=363604"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:40:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T10:10:49","slug":"himalayan-tricarinate-hill-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/himalayan-tricarinate-hill-turtle\/","title":{"rendered":"Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>News<\/strong>: The Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle was recently discovered in Chhattisgarh\u2019s Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, indicating improving ecological conditions and intact forest habitats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\"><strong>About Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_363613\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-363613\" style=\"width: 379px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-363613\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-Conservation-Optimism.jpg?resize=379%2C225&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle\" width=\"379\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-Conservation-Optimism.jpg?resize=300%2C178&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-Conservation-Optimism.jpg?resize=1024%2C606&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-Conservation-Optimism.jpg?resize=768%2C455&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Source-Conservation-Optimism.jpg?w=1483&amp;ssl=1 1483w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 379px) 100vw, 379px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-363613\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Conservation Optimism<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The tricarinate hill turtle<\/strong> or <strong>three-keeled land turtle<\/strong> (Melanochelys tricarinata) is a <strong>small terrestrial turtle species<\/strong> belonging to the <strong>family Geoemydidae.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat<\/strong>: The turtle mainly inhabits <strong>temperate forests, riverine grasslands, foothills of the Himalayas,<\/strong> moist <strong>deciduous forests, and wet evergreen forests with perennial water sources<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution<\/strong>: The species is found across the <strong>narrow sub-Himalayan belt<\/strong> covering northeastern <strong>India, southern Nepal, southern Bhutan, and northern Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Characteristics:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Body Features:<\/strong> The species has a <strong>highly domed carapace<\/strong>, a small <strong>olive-to-dark coloured head<\/strong> with a <strong>narrow snout, and robust scaly limbs<\/strong> adapted for terrestrial movement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Appearance<\/strong>: The turtle <strong>derives its name<\/strong> from the <strong>three distinct keels present on its shell.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Behaviour<\/strong>: It is a <strong>shy, secretive, and primarily terrestrial species<\/strong> that is rarely spotted even within its normal habitat range.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Size<\/strong>: It is a <strong>small to medium-sized<\/strong> turtle with a carapace <strong>length reaching up to 174 mm.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Reproduction<\/strong>: The species <strong>lays eggs at a time during winter months<\/strong>, and the <strong>incubation period ranges from 60 to 72 days.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Omnivorous<\/strong>. Their <strong>diet consists of earthworms, insects, mushrooms, and various plant materials.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Major Threats:<\/strong> The turtle depends heavily on dense forests, intact microhabitats, and minimal human disturbance, making habitat disturbance a serious concern for its survival.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conservation Status<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>IUCN Red List: Endangered<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle was recently discovered in Chhattisgarh\u2019s Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, indicating improving ecological conditions and intact forest habitats. About Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle The tricarinate hill turtle or three-keeled land turtle (Melanochelys tricarinata) is a small terrestrial turtle species belonging to the family Geoemydidae. Habitat: The turtle mainly inhabits temperate&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/himalayan-tricarinate-hill-turtle\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Himalayan Tricarinate Hill Turtle<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,12039,11834],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-363604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}