69,722 Olive turtles arrive to lay eggs

Around 69,722 Olive Ridley sea turtles, primarily found in the warm waters of Pacific and Indian Oceans, have arrived at the Gahirmatha beach to lay eggs much to the delight of wildlife lovers and forest officials.

An estimated 69,722 female turtles were spotted digging pits on the sandy nesting ground for laying eggs in the past 48 hours. Nearly 4 lakh turtles had converged at the nesting ground here on 2013 year, Chief Wildlife Warden and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), S S Srivastav said.

Gahirmatha beach off the Bay of Bengal coast is incidentally acclaimed as World's largest-known nesting ground of the animals.

Forest officials said the number of visiting turtles would rise in the coming days. With the climatic condition conducive and beach topography ideal, the turnout of these marine creatures would rise up manifold in coming days, forest officials said. Female turtles have made their way to the beach to lay eggs in large numbers. We believe that there would be large turnout of nesting turtles in the coming days, Srivastav said.