KENDRAPARA: At least 10 female Olive Ridley turtles, which were tagged by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) during the arribada in March 2021, have returned to lay eggs at the same beach in Nasi-1 and Nasi-2 islands within Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.
Range officer of Gahirmatha Manas Das said this year, forest staff spotted 10 female turtles with metallic tags on their flippers on Nasi-1 and Nasi-2 islands. The tags were fitted in 2021. He said around 5,46,862 turtles laid eggs in Gahirmatha from March 5 to 8.
Senior scientist at ZSI’s Western Regional Centre, Pune Basudev Tripathy said sighting of the 10 tagged Olive Ridleys in Gahirmatha proves that female turtles often come to the same beach to lay eggs. Previous studies have shown that female Olive Ridley turtles lay eggs at the beaches where they were born decades ago.
“Tagging turtles helps us to track their reproductive behaviour, migration patterns and growth rates. It also provides crucial data on their movements and helps establish interconnections between turtle populations which navigate from one country to another,” Tripathy said.
The ZSI had tagged around 3,000 turtles at Rushikulya and Gahirmatha during arribada in 2021, he said and urged people not to remove the tags from the turtles. “Removing tags not only causes pain to the turtle but also results in the loss of valuable research data,” Tripathy added.