KENDRAPADA: Olive Ridley baby turtles in the
lakhs emerged from the countless number of sand pits at Gahirmatha beach on
Wednesday and headed for the sea, forest officials said.
About 1.35 lakh
turtles had turned up this year in the second week of March for mass nesting at
Nasi-1 and Nasi-2 islands within Gahirmatha marine sanctuary under the
Bhitarakanika national park.
Gahirmatha is known
as the world's largest mass nesting place for the endangered Olive Ridleys. It
is a mysterious phenomenon of nature that turtle hatchlings never get to see
their mothers. For, the pregnant turtles climb onto the sandy beach for
delivery, lay the eggs and return to the sea immediately after burying them in
pits. Each turtle lays 50-60 eggs, 50 per cent of which hatch, the rest being
damaged due to various reasons. The survival rate of hatchlings is also
abysmally low, barely one out of 1,000 grow to become adults.
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