In last two days, more than 53,000 hatchlings of Olive Ridley sea turtles have emerged from the eggshells along the sandy beach of Nasi-II, located near the establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Wheeler’s Island under the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.
Ranger Subrat Kumar Patra stated that the emergence of hatchlings from eggshells is expected to continue for at least three-four days. The babies broke out of the eggshells and wandered around the beach for nearly an hour before making their way to the swirling seawater.
While 32,000 hatchlings emerged on Tuesday, 21,000 hatchlings came out from the eggshells on Wednesday. Only 51,959 female Olive Ridley sea turtles came to Nasi-II beach for laying eggs between March 16 and 21.
Generally, the female turtles tend to move towards the beaches in large synchronized concentrations. They lay their eggs at midnight in 45 centimeters pits, which they dig with their rear flippers and later deposit about 90-120 eggs. After laying the eggs in the pits, the female turtles cover the nests with sand and return to the sea in a zigzag manner to confuse predators about the location of the nests. Hatchlings emerge from the eggs after 45-60 days, informed ranger Patra.
Although the species are very slow moving on land, they swim very quickly in water and take advantage of ocean currents to assist their migration. Unlike their land based cousins, marine turtles have paddle –like flippers that can propel them at speed of up to 50 km per hour. As bright lights generally disorient the turtle hatchlings, the DRDO has masked the bright lights.
Notably, to protect the species and its hatchlings, the forest officials effectively enforced a ban on fishing from November 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016 under the Orissa Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1982 and Orissa Marine Fishing Rules, 1983, besides the Wildlife Protection Act.