In a grand culmination of the annual mass nesting of endangered olive ridley turtles, lakhs of baby turtles have broken out of their eggshells, which emerged from sandy pits, and crawled towards the sea at the idyllic Gahirmatha beach off the Bay of Bengal coast in Odisha’s Kendrapara district.

The enactment of this unique natural heritage – the birth of baby turtles sans mother – has left wildlife lovers elated.

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Lakhs of hatchlings have broken out of their eggshells in the past 48 hours and crawled towards the seawater. The emergence of baby turtles marks the grand culmination of the annual sojourn of olive turtles along the Gahirmatha beach, which is regarded as the world’s largest nesting ground of these aquatic animals at Gahirmatha beach.

The annual sojourn of olive ridley sea turtles for mass nesting, otherwise called ‘arribada’, has come to an end at the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Kendrapara district, with over 3 lakh females turning up at the beach to lay eggs since 3 April.

The emergence of hatchlings would last for at least seven to ten days. The number of babies would swell considerably in the coming days, said an official of the Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Division.

The whole of Nasi-2 Island is jam-packed with baby turtles and the wildlife officials of Bhitarkanika National Park stationed at these nesting grounds were sole witness to this unique natural heritage involving the birth of babies sans mother, said forest officials.

Tourists and researchers were denied entry to savour the unique natural heritage as the unmanned island is located in close vicinity of the Wheeler island defence test range centre, a prohibited territory.

The babies broke out of the shackles of eggshells and wandered around the sandy beach for nearly an hour before making their way to the swirling seawater, narrated wildlife staff.

It’s a rare visual treat as the delicate babies with mothers nowhere in sight generated hissing noise thus creating a soothing cacophony. Later, they made a beeline for the sea.

After the eggs are incubated under a natural process, the hatchlings come out following a hiatus of 45 to 55 days. The phenomenon of babies’ emergence from the nests is a unique proposition in itself as “babies grow sans mother”. The mortality rate of hatchlings is exceedingly high as only one out of a thousand survives the life cycle to grow into an adult.