Lakhs of Olive ridley sea turtles lay eggs at Ruskhilulya estuary in Ganjam district

Ganjam: Nearly seven lakh olive ridley sea turtles laid eggs at the Ruskhilulya estuary in Ganjam district during the eight-day nesting period.

Around 350 female turtles, which had been tagged by Zoological Survey Indian during 2021-23 on Odisha coast, have returned to Rushikulya mouth to lay eggs this time, said Anil Mohapatra, a senior scientist at Estuarine Biology Research Center, Gopalpur.

The turtles laid their eggs on the stretch from Podampeta beach to Prayagi in Rushikulya estuary of Ganjam district. The mass nesting of the turtles commenced on February 16, 2025 and is expected to go on until February 25, 2025.

On day one of mass laying, 11,390 eggs were laid, 79,168 on the second day, 1,28,242 on the third, 1,87,578 on the fourth, 1,44,900 on the fifth, 90,264 on the sixth and 16,306 on the seventh, as per the official data.

According to the total count done during seven days and eight nights, 6,98,718 turtles had laid eggs at the estuary. After the mass nesting at Rushikulya, sporadic nesting is continuing in some places on the coast of Ganjam like Gopalpur, Sonepur, Markandi and Ramyapatna. “The eggs are being collected and kept in an artificial hatchery,” said Berhampur DFO Sunny Khokkar.

While transponders were used to attach transmitters to the Olive Ridleys earlier, manual tagging has been in progress since 2020-21. As per a study conducted by ZSI, the rare turtles prefer Rushikulya over Gahirmatha to lay eggs.

There are several reasons for olive ridley turtles to visit a specific beach for mass nesting. One of them being favourable climatic conditions.

“The better climatic condition this year has helped more turtles lay eggs in the Rushikulya river mouth, which is emerging as a major rookery for the turtles,” Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun senior scientist Bivas Pandav said.

The mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles is known as ‘arribada,’ which refers to the coordinated nesting of thousands of female turtles. The eggs will hatch after around 45 days, and the baby turtles will naturally head for the ocean, creating an amazing natural spectacle.