Olive Ridleys set new mass nesting record at Rushikulya | Bhubaneswar News
Berhampur: Over 6.82 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles laid eggs at the Rushikulya river mouth in the last seven days till Saturday, setting a new record in mass nesting of the endangered species. “The mass nesting started on Feb 16. Altogether 6.82 lakh turtles laid eggs on the beach, surpassing the previous record of 6.37 lakh in 2023,” said divisional forest officer (Berhampur) Sunny Khokkar.
A total of 6,37,008 turtles laid eggs over eight days from Feb 23 to March 2, 2023, while 5,50,317 turtles laid eggs during the mass nesting from March 27 to April 4, 2022, sources said. Last year, mass nesting in the rookery did not take place.
“As mass nesting in the eight-km rookery continues, the number of turtles visiting the beach is expected to increase,” said the DFO. This year, mass nesting took place during the daytime, he added.
Good climatic conditions and favourable beaches are some of the reasons for the record number of Olive Ridley turtles visiting the beach for mass nesting, said turtle experts. “The better climatic conditions this year helped more turtles to lay eggs in Rushikulya, which is emerging as a major rookery for the turtles,” said Bivash Pandab, a senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun.
Basudev Tripathy, a senior scientist at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), predicts a good number of hatchlings are likely to emerge as the mass nesting is taking place on time. “The forest department needs to provide adequate protection to safeguard the eggs,” he said.
ZSI scientists have recaptured over 330 Olive Ridleys so far, which they tagged during 2021-23. Most of them were tagged during this period at the Rushikulya river mouth, said Anil Mohapatra, another senior scientist at the ZSI. “It indicates that the same female turtles prefer the same site for mass nesting,” said Mohapatra, who is head of ZSI’s, Gopalpur unit.
Dibya Shankar Behera, range officer, Khallikote, said to protect the eggs the forest department has started fencing the new area as the turtles nested from New Podampeta to Prayagi, a 9-km stretch, this year. They have rescued several turtles that moved towards the forest areas, he said.
A total of 6,37,008 turtles laid eggs over eight days from Feb 23 to March 2, 2023, while 5,50,317 turtles laid eggs during the mass nesting from March 27 to April 4, 2022, sources said. Last year, mass nesting in the rookery did not take place.
“As mass nesting in the eight-km rookery continues, the number of turtles visiting the beach is expected to increase,” said the DFO. This year, mass nesting took place during the daytime, he added.
Good climatic conditions and favourable beaches are some of the reasons for the record number of Olive Ridley turtles visiting the beach for mass nesting, said turtle experts. “The better climatic conditions this year helped more turtles to lay eggs in Rushikulya, which is emerging as a major rookery for the turtles,” said Bivash Pandab, a senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun.
Basudev Tripathy, a senior scientist at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), predicts a good number of hatchlings are likely to emerge as the mass nesting is taking place on time. “The forest department needs to provide adequate protection to safeguard the eggs,” he said.
ZSI scientists have recaptured over 330 Olive Ridleys so far, which they tagged during 2021-23. Most of them were tagged during this period at the Rushikulya river mouth, said Anil Mohapatra, another senior scientist at the ZSI. “It indicates that the same female turtles prefer the same site for mass nesting,” said Mohapatra, who is head of ZSI’s, Gopalpur unit.
Dibya Shankar Behera, range officer, Khallikote, said to protect the eggs the forest department has started fencing the new area as the turtles nested from New Podampeta to Prayagi, a 9-km stretch, this year. They have rescued several turtles that moved towards the forest areas, he said.
