It may not be very rare to come across a turtle during your travels but stumbling upon a Siamese twin turtle is definitely a moment to experience.

A tourist who had traveled to the city of Pamukkale and was looking forward to enjoying the region home to world-famous ancient travertine thermal pools, or white calcium "cascades" frozen in stone, spotted the conjoined turtles.

The turtles were handed over to teams of the Denizli branch of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks. They were then sent to academic members of the Pamukkale University.

Authorities at Pamukkale University took the Siamese twin turtles under their protection Wednesday.

The turtles, believed to be around 3 months old, were later taken to a laboratory for inspection. Professor Eyüp Başkale said the university would do all at its disposal to keep the turtles alive.

"Taking a closer look, we can see that this species is a Siamese twin," he said, adding the turtles have a single digestive system and one set of hind legs.

"It is highly unlikely that this species will survive in nature," he said. "We will try to keep the turtles alive at our laboratory. I hope we will succeed."