The mouth of the Rushikulya River in Odisha's Ganjam district has emerged as a major rookery for the endangered olive ridley turtles as they arrived at the coast for mass nesting. A record-breaking 6,98,718 turtles laid eggs on the beach, surpassing the record set in 2023 of 6,37,008. This was also special since the endangered marine species did not make an appearance at the beach last year.
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The mass nesting of the turtles commenced on February 16, 2025 and is expected to go on until February 25, 2025. This season is poised to break the previous record, with thousands of turtles having already deposited eggs. The required steps have been taken by the government and conservation groups to safeguard these nesting locations and guarantee the security of the turtles and their eggs.
There are several reasons for olive ridley turtles to visit a specific beach for mass nesting. One of them being favourable climatic conditions. “The better climatic condition this year has helped more turtles lay eggs in the Rushikulya river mouth, which is emerging as a major rookery for the turtles,” Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun senior scientist Bivas Pandav said.
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) senior scientist Basudev Tripathy predicts a good number of hatchlings likely to emerge as the mass nesting has taken place in time in the rookery. So far, ZSI scientists have recaptured over 330 olive ridleys as these turtles were GPS-tagged in the 2021-23 period, said Anil Mohapatra, another senior scientist of the surveyor.
The mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles is known as ‘arribada,' which refers to the coordinated nesting of thousands of female turtles. The eggs will hatch after around 45 days, and the baby turtles will naturally head for the ocean, creating an amazing natural spectacle.
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