Kendrapara: Over 60 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchlings have emerged from the eggshells at the mass nesting sites of Nasi-2 in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary here, an official said Wednesday.
Rajnagar Mangrove Forest and Wildlife Division DFO Bikash Ranjan Dash said while over 54 lakh hatchlings emerged from 78,000 nests May 4, 4,300 hatchlings emerged May 3 at the nesting ground at Nasi-2, located near the establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Wheeler’s Island.
The Nor’wester that hit the Nasi2 beach May 3 last had affected the process of hatchlings coming out of the nests. The hatchlings from eggshells are expected to continue for some more days.
The babies broke out of the eggshells and wandered around the sandy beach for nearly an hour before making their way to swirling seawater.
About 3.49 lakh of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles arrived at Gahirmatha Marine sanctuary for laying eggs within a span of two weeks from March 10 to 24 last.
Due to multi-layering, more than 10 per cent of eggs laid were destroyed in some of the segments during the mass nesting as turtles were laying eggs on the same spot, by digging the earth with its flipper and destroying the laid eggs, where eggs were laid earlier by turtles.
Predators like crows and seagulls also destroyed some per cent of eggs. In addition to it thousands of nests were washed away due to high tide April 28 last, Dash said.
The DFO said that the Forest personnel were asked to follow all Covid protocols while guarding the hatchlings against the predators and help them crawl into the sea.
As bright lights generally disorient the turtle hatchlings, the DRDO at Wheeler’s Island have masked the bright light to provide a congenial atmosphere for the baby turtles to crawl into the seawater, Dash added.
PNN