WATCH - Tagged female Olive Ridleys sea turtles arrive after a decade to lay eggs at Gahirmatha sanctuary

Kendrapara (Odisha): Much to the joy of turtle lovers and researchers, three tagged female Olive Ridley sea turtles, tagged more than a decade back, came to the Gahirmatha Marine sanctuary, the largest rookery of the species this year, to lay eggs.

This clearly proved that the tagged female turtles are finding their way to Gahirmatha, where they were born more than a decade ago.

It has been ascertained that the turtles generally come to the favourite nesting place time and again for laying eggs at the golden beach of Gahirmatha where they earlier laid eggs, Rajnagar Mangrove (forest) and wildlife Division DFO Sudarashan Gopinath Jadav said.

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The splendid phenomenon of mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles at Gahirmatha has begun.
Lakhs of them will be visiting our beach to lay eggs in next couple of days. Department is fully geared up to ensure safety of our annual visitors pic.twitter.com/dVi8HvCXN8

— Susanta Nanda (@susantananda3) April 3, 2024 >

It may be noted here that the Odisha forest department in collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, fitted tags on the flippers of the turtles between 1998 and 2010.

Sea turtles are also tagged to recognise individuals or cohorts for research purposes. Tagging is most often done to obtain information on their reproductive biology, movements and growth rates.

Sea turtles throughout the world are known to migrate thousands of kilometres between their nesting beaches and feeding grounds.

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Olive Ridley Turtle Arribada @ Gahirmatha .. pic.twitter.com/QucjE3XO9n

— Jagyandatt Pati (@jd_pati) April 3, 2024 >

The tagging helps researchers study the turtle's migratory route and areas of foraging. Tagging data also shows how the turtles navigate waters across different areas.

There was a lack of information about turtles, after they left the coast of Odisha.

Hence, there was a need for tagging and satellite telemetry to track their movements and enhance the protection of their habitats.

The forest personnel with the help of WII researchers had fitted tags on several endangered Olive Ridley turtles in the past years in all the three major nesting sites — Gahiramatha, Rushikulya and Devi beach to know their movement.

Notably, as many as six tagged female Olive Ridley sea turtles also came to lay eggs last year to Nasi-2 island.

(Photo:X/Jagyandatt Pati)