Olive Ridley turtles
#GS -03 Biodiversity Conservation
For Prelims
Olive Ridley turtles
- Olive Ridley turtles also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle are one of the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.
- They get their name from their olive-coloured carapace and are carnivores by nature.
- Olive Ridley turtles are found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
- They are the smallest sea turtles of all in India and one of the smallest sea-turtles on the earth.
- The are famous for their unique mass nesting called Arribada and Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the world’s largest rookery of them.
- Thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay their eggs over a period of five to seven days in conical nests.
- The gender of the new born is determined by the temperature at which they are hatched.
- A male turtle is born if the egg hatches at a temperature below 29 degrees Celsius and if the temperature is above that, the hatchling is a female.
Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule 1
IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
CITES: Appendix I
For Mains
Concerns
- Recently hundreds of Olive Ridley turtles have washed ashore along the coastline between Kakinada and Antarvedi in the Godavari region of Andhra Pradesh.
- The effluents being released from the aqua ponds along the coastline and the discharges from the pipelines of the onshore oil exploration facilities are seen as the causes for this.
Source “Mass mortality of Olive Ridley turtles in A.P. raises concerns”
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