400,000 Turtles Laid Eggs Freely On The Beach Thanks To...CO.VID-19 As People Are All On Lockdown

Dhir Acharya - Apr 02, 2020

A rare event took place on the coast of Odisha, India, with the participation of thousands of turtles and no presence of humans, thanks to CO.VID-19.

The ongoing pandemic is forcing everyone to stay home, which makes it difficult for us to continue our daily lives but makes it better than ever for nature to do its job. And one of the latest observed incidents is turtles’ hatchlings, during which thousands of turtles laid eggs.

In India, between March 14 to March 21, 2020, 407,194 turtles laid eggs in a marine sanctuary in the eastern state of Orissa. In 2016, only 150,000 turtles went on the beach to lay eggs, each laid 120 eggs.

India’s Odisha coast is among the largest nesting sites for the olive ridley besides Costa Rica and Mexico. However, predators limit the survival rates of these turtles to just 0.2%.

Over 400,000 olive ridley turtles laid eggs on the beach while all humans are locked down inside — Over 400,000 olive ridley females laid eggs on the beach while all humans are locked down inside

Meanwhile, according to The Guardian, government workers in Brazil, the only people that were lucky enough to witness the rare event, took several photos indicating newly hatched turtles making their way back to the ocean. At the time, nearly 100 Hawksbill turtles hatched.

Wildlife officials were the only human beings on the beach when these endangered creatures hatched right in front of their eyes, as reported by a news release. Paulista City Hall reported that the incident took place on March 22, on Janga Beach, Paulista, Brazil.

This event took place the first time in 7 years

And it was possible thanks to the absence of humans

Though this is the usual nesting season of turtles, it’s important to note that this is the very first time in the past seven years that the mass turtle nesting has happened during the day. The last time India saw this was in 2013.

And this is attributed to CO.VID-19, the ongoing global pandemic. Every year, flocks of tourists come to the beach to witness the event, which turns out toe scare these creatures away. However, with the disease and the full lockdown in India, the beach is finally human-free and the turtles could lay their eggs as their nature.

The nesting season for these turtles is in February and March

February and March is the nesting season for olive ridley turtles when they head to the beach in Odisha, India, to lay eggs. It’s worth noting that it takes a female turtle 20 years to be sexually mature enough to lay eggs.

It seems that after all, CO.VID-19 does help the environment by limiting the presence of people outside. Ironic, isn’t it?