Odisha: After three years, four tagged turtles return to Gahirmatha Beach
During mass nesting this year, at least four Olive Ridley turtles that were equipped with metallic flipper tags at Gahirmatha beach in 2021 were observed at Nasi-2 island.
The four tagged female turtles were discovered by forest officials during mass nesting at Nasi-2 island from April 2 to 7, according to Pradosh Moharana, range officer of the Gahirmatha marine reserve. This time, he said, almost 3.01 lakh turtles deposited their eggs on the island. The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) tagged each of the four turtles in Gahirmatha in 2021.
The fact that they were discovered in Gahirmatha three years later indicates that the tagged turtles return to the same beach to lay their eggs, according to senior scientist Basudev Tripathy of ZSI’s Western Regional Centre in Pune.
He said that during the 2021 mass nesting season at the beaches of Rushikulya and Gahirmatha, almost 3,000 turtles had metallic tags attached to their flippers.
