Mass nesting by Olive Ridley sea turtles at the Gahirmatha beach in Kendrapada district is likely to surpass an 17-year-old record as around 6,62,320 turtles have so far laid eggs at the beach this year, reports said.
While the figure had stood at 7,11,500 during 1999-2000 and 7,40,00 in 2000-2001, the beach later witnessed a decrease in the number of Olive Ridley turtles participating in their annual mass nesting.
However, this year’s promising numbers are all set to break the intervening previous years’ records. Besides, this year, it is the third highest in the terms of numbers of turtles laying eggs at the beach.
According to reports, around only 200 turtles were part of the mass nesting on March 5, which suddenly rose to 5,640 turtles on March 6, 1,28,000 on March 7, 1,16,000 on March 8, 2,23,000 on March 9, 82,200 on March 10 and 7,280 on March 11.