A good news for the environmentalists here. Over 60 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchlings have emerged from egg shells at the mass nesting sites of Nasi-2, which is the world's largest rookery of the species. Nasi-2 is located near the establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Wheeler’s Island, under the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.
The Norwester that hit the Nasi -2 beach on May 3 had affected the process of hatchlings’ emergence out of the nests. According to Rajnagar Mangrove Forest and Wildlife Division DFO Bikash Ranjan Dash, the emergence of hatchlings from egg shells is expected to continue for at least for some more days.
The babies broke out of the eggshells and wandered around the sandy beach for nearly an hour before making their way to the swirling seawater.
Notably, about 3.49 lakh endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles came to the beaches of Gahirmatha for laying eggs within a span of two weeks from March 10 to March 24. Due to multi layering at Nasi-2 , more than 10 per cent of the eggs were destroyed in some of the segments during the mass nesting as turtles were laying eggs on the same spot by digging the earth with their flipper where eggs were already laid earlier.
Later, predators like crow and sea gulls also destroyed some eggs, informed the DFO.