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Experts expect more hatchlings to emerge in the coming days. The mouth of the Rushikulya river in the Ganjam district of Odisha has become a major colony of endangered olive ridley turtles as a record number of more than 6.37 lakh turtles have laid eggs on the beach over the past few years. eight days of mass nesting, official sources said. The mass turtle nesting began on a 3 km long beach between Podampeta and the Bateshwar area near the river mouth from February 23 and continued until Thursday. During the period, 6,37,008 tortoises laid eggs, 86,000 more than the previous year, said Sunny Khokkar, Berhampur Division Forestry Officer (DFO).
This time, all previous colony records were broken during nesting, DFO said.
Last year, 5,50,317 tortoises laid eggs, while in 2018, more than 4.82 lakhs laid eggs in the colony, the sources said.
Since the mass nesting took place more than a month in advance this time, experts expect more hatchlings to emerge. “We expect hatching to occur early this time as well, as mass nesting occurred early this time,” DFO said.
Khokkar said that he took all necessary measures to protect the eggs in the colony. A sufficient number of personnel, including local people, have been recruited to monitor predator eggs. As female turtles return to the sea after laying eggs, predators such as jackals, wild dogs, wild boars and birds will lie in wait to eat the eggs, he said.
Also, to protect the eggs from predators, the authorities have erected fences around the area. Before the hatchlings emerged, forest officials covered the entire area with mosquito netting to protect them from the birds, the sources said.
"Because the mother turtles did not wait for the baby turtles to emerge from the sandboxes, approximately 45-50 days after nesting, we care for the eggs and baby turtles in the absence of their mothers until they crawl out to sea," DFO saying.
