The endangered Olive Ridley female turtles have begun arriving at the Gahirmatha beach, world’s largest known rookery of these species, to lay eggs with more than 2.45 lakh marine animals’ en-masse arrival for the unique natural heritage in one of the largest single-day arrival of the turtles at the tranquil nesting beach.
The annual mass nesting of these delicate marine species began yesterday night in Nasi-2 beach of the Gahirmatha nesting ground. More than 2.45 lakh female turtles crawled onto the beach to dig pits with flippers. The arrival of turtles of such a large number is a refreshing development and this is probably the largest congregation of turtles at the nesting beach in a single day. We are expecting the large congregation for the next two to three days while the mass nesting is expected to continue at least for a week, said Divisional Forest Officer, Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) Forest Division, J.D. Pati.
This year mass nesting was delayed for about a fortnight. Last year, 3,49,694 turtles had turned up en masse to lay eggs from 9 March to 23 March. Apprehension was being expressed that turtles might skip their annual visit this time. But perfect topography and profile of the beach, free from sea erosion, proved to be conducive for turtles to virtually invade the beach, DFO Pati said.
Nasi-II beach comes under jurisdiction of Defence research and Development Organisation which conducts missile tests from neighbouring Wheeler Island. That’s why, it is a prohibited territory and outsiders are disallowed entry into the unmanned Island. Only forest personnel are deployed there for patrolling.
The forest personnel were the lone witness to the rare visual threat of turtles crawling on the beach and triggering hissing noise and soothing cacophony. No wildlife researcher made it to the place this time to witness the rare natural phenomenon because of prohibition on visit to the place
The forest department is now prioritising the safety of turtles’ nests. Wildlife staff are on the round-the-clock vigil on the nesting ground to ensure the safety of nests from the predators like jackals, hyena and wild dogs at bay.
“The presence of forest personnel on the nesting ground did not bother the turtles as they maintained distance from the animals. Emphasis is on to provide privacy to the marine animals during the egg-laying process. On their seaward journey, they moved past the forest guards at hand-shaking distance”, said the officials who witnessed mass nesting also popularly described arribada, a Spanish term for egg laying”, narrated the forest officials.
It’s only the female turtles that invade the nesting beaches usually at the dead of the night for laying eggs, the phenomenon otherwise described as ‘arribada’. After indulgence in instinctive egg-laying, the turtles leave the nesting ground to stride into the deep sea water. Hatchlings emerge from these eggs after 45-60 days. It is a rare natural phenomenon where the babies grow without their mother, said officials.
The Olive turtles turn up in millions for mass nesting along the Odisha coast every year. Gahirmatha beach off Bay of Bengal coast in Kendrapara district is incidentally acclaimed as World’s largest-known nesting ground of these animals. Apart from Gahirmatha, these threatened aquatic animals turn up at Rushikulya river mouth and Devi river mouth for mass nesting, otherwise called arribada.
An Olive Ridley usually lays about 120 to 150 eggs from which hatchlings emerge after about 45 to 50 days. But not all eggs remain intact as predators devour it.
Besides, eggs are also washed away by sea waves during high tide. The eggs are incubated in the nest and grow, sans mother, to emerge as hatchlings.