Mumbai, May 19 (PTI) Four months after a bunch of Olive Ridley turtles were tagged to study their movement patterns and released in the Arabian Sea, one of them has returned to the coast of Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra, an official said on Thursday.
Named `Prathama’, the turtle was tagged with transmitters — fitted on its hard shell — at Velas village in the district.
Velas has become famous for its Olive Ridley turtles conservation program.
The turtle research along the coast is conducted by the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India and the Mangrove Foundation of the Maharashtra government.
Prathama and four other turtles were tagged before being released in the water four months ago, said an official with the foundation.
Prathama has been spotted close to the Velas beach lately while remaining four are still in the continental shelf of the Arabian Sea, he said.
“The assumption was that the turtles would swim up to the Lakshadweep islands or drift towards West Asia and return to Ratnagiri in October or November,” the official said.
Females of Olive Ridley turtles are known to return to the same beach where they hatched, to lay eggs.
Apart from Velas, Guhaghar and Anjarle are two other beaches in Ratnagiri where Olive Ridley turtles lay eggs every year. PTI ND KRK KRK
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