Inside the secret lives of olive ridley turtles

Satellite tagging of the olive ridley turtles is helping unveil the secret lives of turtles, especially nesting behaviour. Savani, a turtle which was tagged at Anjarle in January, has nested at Kelshi on Friday where she laid 76 eggs. She had laid around 87 eggs at Anjarle a few days ago. A Total of five olive ridley sea turtles, including Savani, have been tagged on the Western Coast of India so far.

Before Kelshi, Savani had nested and laid eggs at Anjarle. Pic/Mangrove Foundation

Confirming the development, Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) and head of Mangrove Cell, said, "The turtle, Savani, was tagged at Anjarle on January 25. It has nested at Kelshi (adjacent shore) today. Earlier, the turtle laid 87 eggs at Anjarle. It has laid 76 eggs at Kelshi. With this, we have understood the nesting behaviour of olive ridley turtles. And it could be confirmed that they nest twice or thrice in the same nesting season." The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) along with a team of Mangrove Foundation and local forest staff have successfully tagged five olive ridley turtles so far.

The Mangrove Foundation has commissioned a research project ‘Tracking the migratory movements of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles off the coast of Maharashtra' which will help in understanding the movement pattern of olive ridley turtles off the coast of Western India. The turtles have been tagged as part of it. The findings of this project will help in understanding the population of olive ridley sea turtles on the western coast of India, their migration pattern, foraging ground and their behaviour. The Mangrove Foundation and Mangrove Cell are planning to take up more such research initiatives to strengthen the turtle conservation of Maharashtra.