ORE than 900,000 endangered Olive Ridley turtles have nested on various beaches in Orissa over the last three months, breaking all past records, state wildlife chief S.K. Patnaik said. Rusikulya river beach in Ganjam district lies about 150 km from the state capital. But no nesting has been reported yet from this beach this year, Patnaik said.
Female turtles tend to move on shore to nest in large synchronized concentrations.
Now this only occurs at a few sites in the world, with Orissa being one of the most important, conservationists say. The turtles come to the shore in the night, dig a pit in the sand and lay eggs. After covering it with sand they return to the sea. They watch them closely and on the basis of their counting the figures of the total turtles have come out. Three varieties of endangered turtles visit Orissa beaches to lay eggs, but the Olive Ridleys come arrive the largest numbers, he said.