Odyssey of an Olive Ridley: Unprecedented Migration from Odisha to Maharashtra

An Olive Ridley Turtle swam 3,600 km from Odisha to Maharashtra, a first-recorded migration for nesting. Tagged by ZSI in 2021, the journey has spotlighted studying migration patterns. It emphasizes the need for extensive research and tagging to understand these turtles' behaviors in the Bay of Bengal.

An Olive Ridley Turtle, tagged at Odisha's Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in March 2021, has completed a rare 3,600 km journey across the Bay of Bengal to a nesting site in Maharashtra. This marks an unprecedented migration pattern, shedding light on the need for in-depth scientific study of these marine travelers.

Basudev Tripathy, a senior scientist at the Zoological Survey of India, highlighted this as the first recorded instance of such a long-distance migration for nesting by a turtle tagged in Odisha. Historically, tagged turtles would either return to Odisha or be found near Sri Lanka, but not nesting.

The striking journey underscores the importance of large-scale tagging and further research to ensure effective protection strategies for Olive Ridley turtles' breeding grounds. Current data shows that around 12,000 turtles have already been tagged since 2021, but scientists urge for an increase to truly grasp these turtles' extraordinary behaviors.

(With inputs from agencies.)