Olive Ridley Turtles Return to Mumbai’s Versova Beach
25th February 2018, Mumbai: After a gap of 20 years, the Versova beach in Mumbai welcomed around 80 palm-sized turtles, making their way in the Arabian Sea. This was a result of the efforts of hundreds of Mumbaikars who have been cleaning the Versova beach regularly for over two years.
Several factors such as Poaching, predation and plastic pollution have been responsible for this absence of Olive Ridley Turtles. Taking inspiration from turtle saving campaigns of Vishwas Katdare’s “Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra” which carries out such activities across Maharashtra since 2002, Mr A Shah, a Lawyer along with residents of Versova, with extensive help from Maharashtra’s Forest Dept, started beach cleaning activities in 2016, which led to this delightful appearance of Olive Ridley Turtles this year.
In India, Olive Ridley Turtles have been given protection under Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies them as a vulnerable species.
Few astonishing facts about turtles:
I. Sea turtles are into existence since 110 million years..!!
II. Five species found in India are Olive Ridley, Green, Hawksbill, Loggerhead and Leatherback turtles.
III. Once they enter sea as hatchlets, females don’t return to the beach for next 10-15 years.
IV. They have no compass and they swim the oceans, yet Upon maturity (10-15 years), females return to same beach at the same spot where they were born, to lay eggs. Isn’t it amazing..!!
V. Their long lives help transfer of nutrients from rich marine beds to sandy beaches.
Their return to the exact beach and place of their birth has long been a subject of intrigue among the researchers and environmentalists. Female turtles find their way to the coast at night, guided by the moon, usually during high tide.
There have been several previous studies supporting the navigation of turtles in the ocean by Earth’s magnetic field. This is also being counted as a factor helping turtles return to the same coast to lay eggs. Earth’s iron core has a molten metal outer layer, which is volatile and which changes the Earth’s magnetic field. Thus, the place of laying of eggs shifts a little on the beach, depending on the concentration or dispersion of magnetic field with respect to volatility of the molten metal at the core. This has been found to be true as per studies conducted for over 19 years at various beaches across the world.
As per a new study, published in Journal Current Biology, it is discovered that turtles find their way back to their place of birth with the help of unique magnetic signatures which they leave on the beach upon hatching. Link to the study:
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(14)01638-8
From the above, we do know that nature bestows perfect sense to turtles (and to each animal in its own capacity) to survive and produce offsprings at places where the chances of their survival are maximum. A female turtle thus selects the safest place for giving birth to her offsprings – the place where she was born.
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