Researchers have found that olive ridley turtles who had earlier come to the Odisha coast to lay eggs returned to the state coast again to lay eggs.

The confirmation came when researchers found nearly 100 such olive ridley turtles who had been tagged on the Odisha coast last year coming for mass nesting this time again. Mass nesting is a natural phenomenon, known as Arribada in Spanish.

Scientist and officer-in-charge of the Zoological Survey of India’s Estuarine Biology Regional Centre, Gopalpur, Anil Mohapatra, told The Telegraph: “The process of tagging began in 2021. Till 2022, around 8,500 turtles were tagged and around 100 tags are recaptured to date during this mass nesting at Rushikulya mouth in Ganjam district. This year, we have tagged around 2,250 turtles.”

During the tagging, the researchers put metal flippers on the olive ridley with specific numbers in it. These are uniquely numbered manual tags, The metals carry all information about where it has come from, and where it was earlier found. It also carries email.

Mohapatra said: “So far we have the evidence that few of them had travelled to Sri Lanka from Rushikulya mouth after laying eggs on the Odisha coast. Last year we tagged those turtles and one of the turtle lovers from Sri Lanka informed us about it through email and sent all the evidence. But another good thing is that we have found this year that nearly 100 turtles which were tagged last year, reached this year.”