Olive ridley sea turtle is one of the species of sea turtles. Its scientific name is Lepidochelys olivacea. It is found in the tropical seas of Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Olive ridley sea turtle is the second smallest sea turtle in the world, and most widely found among the sea turtles. It is an omnivore and it.
Olive ridley sea turtle is known for mass nesting like Kemps Ridley turtle. Thousands of female turtles swim out to the shore to lay eggs. The name Olive Ridley Sea Turtle comes from the olive-colour carpace of the turtle (olive), and ridley is still unclear except to guess that its social behaviour is a riddle. Female sea turtles return to the same spot on the same beach where they hatch their eggs: to lay their eggs they dig conical nests with their hind flippers.
The turtles attract the attention of animal lovers for their unique nesting ritual. “These turtles are solitary, preferring the open ocean. They migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles every year, and come together as a group only once a year for the arribada, when females return to the beaches where they hatched and lumber onshore, sometimes in the thousands to nest,” reports National Geographic. “Olive ridleys have nesting sites all over the world, on tropical and subtropical beaches. During nesting, they use the wind and the tide to help them reach the beach. Females lay about a hundred eggs, but may nest up to three times a year. The nesting season is from June to December.”
In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, thousands and thousands of sea turtles gather near Gahirmatha beach during the hatching season. Gahirmatha rookery and Bhitarkanika are the popular places for the sea turtles’ nesting. According to a report, in 1991, more than half a million sea turtles nested along the coast in Odisha (formerly known as Orissa). According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the turtle is classified as vulnerable: to halt its commercial exploitation and in trading of its skin.
“The turtles arrive under the cover of darkness, trudging ashore to dig shallow pits with their flippers where they deposit dozens of eggs. Their work done, they return to the ocean. But their eggs are vulnerable to predators like dogs and vultures during the 50-odd day incubation period beneath the sand, and high tides can wash away an entire nest,” LiveMint.com reported. “Fishermen along this stretch of east Indian coastline have been intervening to give the unborn turtles a shot at life.”
