Wildlife officials have noticed sporadic nesting by olive ridley turtles at the Gahirmatha beach, ahead of the mass nesting phenomena.
Each year, olive ridleys turn up in large numbers to lay eggs during January and February along the Gahirmatha beach, which is the world’s largest known rookery of these marine animals.
Small group of turtles have crawled to the nesting beach at Nasi-2 island and have begun laying eggs. Sporadic nesting of turtles is a positive sign and a prelude to en-masse emergence of turtles for laying eggs. The wildlife officials are optimistic of the occurrence of mass-nesting or arribada within the next 50 to 60 days,” said Kedar Kumar Swain, officer of the Rajnagar Mangrove (wildlife) forest division.
The ground-level employees are keeping a vigil on the beach to save the nests from predators, he said.
Courtesy: telegraph