Record Olive Ridley Turtle mass nesting; 4.92 lakh crawl to Odisha Coast

Insight Bureau: A record number of 4.92 lakh endangered Olive Ridley turtles flocked the Rushikulya river mouth in Ganjam district in the last 5 days for their annual mass nesting.

Amlan Nayak, the Divisional Forest officer (DFO), Berhampur forest Division stated that around 67,974 turtles had laid eggs at the river mouth & the nesting is expected to increase due to the favorable weather conditions.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC) tweeted that the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) is monitoring the turtles since 26th March 2022 to learn about their breeding behavior & re-migration interval.

Around 1200 turtles tagged every night, in the last three nights, more than 4,000 female turtles have been tagged by ZSI.

These species are under the protection of The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and are categorized to be vulnerable as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Spectacular #arribada of Olive Ridley #Turtles continuing at #Rushikulya Rookery, one of the mass nesting sites for this species. ZSI team is monitoring the nesting population, counting the arribada throughout the night since 26th March 2022. pic.twitter.com/DtPa2iCDpl

— MoEF&CC (@moefcc) March 30, 2022