Rushikulya Farewells Olive Ridley
- 02-Jun-2022
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Ganjam, (BDNS): Hundreds Olive Ridley leave Rushikulya beach with a memorable walk. Their nests buried in sand at Rushikulya beach on June 1. The Olive Ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.
Thousands of hatchlings came out of the nests buried in sand to crawl towards the sea to start their long journey. On an average 80 to 100 turtles hatch from each nest.
While Odisha had escaped being hit by Cyclone ‘Asani’ this year, but the high tide under its influence and the resulting erosion washed away thousands of eggs of Olive Ridley turtles from the mass nesting site at the mouth of Rushikulya river off Ganjam coast.
Due to the erosion around 15 to 20 per cent of the record 5.5 lakh eggs laid by the sea turtles in the five km-long nesting site from March 28 to April 4 might have been damaged, said a senior forest department official.
The eggs generally hatch after 40 to 45 days of nesting.
