As a record number of 4.92 lakh Olive Ridley turtles have crawled to the Rushikulya coast in Odisha, scientists have tagged more than 6,000 turtles to gather more information about their breeding behaviour and migration.
“On the Day 6 of arribada on the Rushikulya coast, we have recorded 4.92 lakh nests and are still counting. This is the highest nesting which has broken all records for the coast,” said Divisional Forest Officer, Berhampur, Amlan Nayak.
During the nesting period scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have tagged more than one per cent of turtles that have arrived on the beach. “The more turtles we tag the more information we will have about the breeding behaviour and re-migration interval,” scientist at the ZSI, Basudev Tripathi, said. He said the possibility of tag returns was very low and last year, when 1,200 turtles were tagged, there were only four tag returns.
