Baby Olive Ridley turtles break shells,head to sea

Kendrapara: Lakhs of baby turtles broke out of their eggshells and crawled towards the sea waters of Gahirmatha coast in Kendrapara district, marking the culmination of the annual sojourn of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. The whole of Nasi-2 Island is teeming with baby turtles and wildlife officials of Bhitarkanika national park stationed at these nesting grounds were sole witness to this unique natural heritage involving the birth of babies sans mother.

Sharing small visuals of the baby turtles on X, Odisha’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF)-Wildlife, Susanta Nanda, said, ‘’The sunrise began with new eyes. Hatchlings on their journey today to the sea from the mass nesting sites of Olive Ridley at Gahirmatha Sanctuary of the coast of Odisha.’’ The annual sojourn of Olive Ridley sea turtles for mass nesting, otherwise called as ‘arribada,’ had come to an end at Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in Kendrapara district with over 3 lakh lakh females turning up at the beach turtles to lay eggs from April 3.

The emergence of hatchlings would last at least for 7 to 10 days. The number of babies would swell considerably in the coming days, said a Forest official of Rajnagar Mangrove (Wildlife) Division. Tourists and researchers were denied entry to savour the unique natural heritage keeping in view the fact that the unmanned islands is located in close vicinity of Wheeler’s island defence test range centre, a prohibited territory.

The baby turtles broke out of the shackles of eggshells and wandered aimlessly around the sandy beach for nearly an hour before making their way to swirling seawater, said the Forest official.

It’s a rare visual treat as the delicate babies with mothers nowhere in sight generate hissing noise thus creating a soothing cacophony. Later, they made a beeline for the sea.

After the eggs are incubated under natural process, the hatchlings come out after 45/55 days’ hiatus. The phenomenon of babies’ emergence from the nests is a unique proposition in itself as ‘’babies grow sans mother.’’