Mass hatching of Olive Ridley eggs begins….
Children release Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings near the water after collecting them from higher reaches at the Rushikulya river mouth rookery, Orissa, INDIA early Monday Morning.
Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtle eggs has begun at this major nesting site under the shroud of environmental degradation caused by oil spill from a ship recently.
The mass hatching, which started on Saturday night, is expected to continue for next two to three days.
Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer Mr.Ajay Kumar Jena, who is monitoring the protection of the hatchlings till Monday morning, said eggs in around 30,000 nests on the coast had hatched.
Around 1,55,000 Olive Ridleys nested along the coastline near the Rushikulya Rookery in March and the eggs have started hatching after 45 days. More than 100 eggs were laid into every nest. On an average, however, around 80 hatchlings came out of each nest, Mr. Jena said.
Nearly 24,00,000 hatchlings had entered the sea and lakhs will follow in the coming days.
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