Celebrate International Turtle Day With These Olive Ridley Fun Facts

Celebrate International Turtle Day With These Olive Ridley Fun Facts

For a long time Odisha has provided a safe space to the endangered Olive Ridley turtles who arrive on the coasts and beaches once a year for arribada. This year more than 1.48 crore Olive Ridley hatchlings scrambled out of egg shells across Odisha’s beaches and scampered to the Bay of Bengal to begin their sea sojourn. Odisha’s unique ecology plays an important role in the survival of this beautiful species. Odisha prides itself for being home to the largest rookery for Olive Ridleys. 

Did you know that once Dr APJ Abdul Kalam made a crucial intervention in a conservation effort that was vital to the survival of the endangered species? Back when Kalam was the chief of DRDO, it was brought to his notice that the bright lights of Wheeler Island missile testing facility were being a distraction for the Olive Ridleys. So he made sure that the lights were masked during the nesting season of the eco-sensitive marine creatures. 

2020 sprang a surprise on conservationists and marine biologists as Odisha witnessed the mass nesting of the turtles during the day after seven years. On International Turtle Day let’s celebrate this gift from nature. Here are some interesting facts about Olive Ridleys.

1. The Olive Ridley turtle is the most abundant sea turtle species in the world and is known for its mass nesting aggregations in Mexico, India, Nicaragua and Costa Rica which is called arribadas (meaning “arrival” in Spanish).

2. The olive ridley turtle is born with grey skin and a grey heart shaped shell (carapace) which turns an olive green once they reach adulthood. This is how they are given their name.

3. Olive Ridley turtles are one of the smallest sea turtle species at only 2 to 2.5 feet long and weigh 36 to 50 kg. 

4. They inhabit warmer oceans such as the Pacific, South Atlantic and Indian ocean.

5. Olive Ridley turtles mate in the ocean. Females can store sperm throughout the breeding season, enabling them to produce one to three clutches of eggs at intervals. 

6. Like all sea turtles, females nest on the beach where they were born. While some female olive ridley turtles are solitary nesters, many are synchronized nesters, emerging from the water during the same 28-day period to nest with hundreds or thousands of other olive ridleys. 

7. The gender of the Olive Ridley hatchlings is thermosensitive. The warmer the eggs are during incubation, the more females will be produced. Likewise, if the nest is colder, there will be more males. 

8. Adults are omnivores and forage on a variety of prey. They are known to eat jellyfish, shrimp, crabs, tunicates and sometimes algae.

9. Just like other sea turtles Olive Ridleys are believed to be long-lived. Because they live long, Olive Ridley turtles do not reach sexual maturity until 13 years old, making this species vulnerable to natural population declines. 

10. Olive ridley turtles can sleep underwater for two hours before coming up for air.