Satellite-tagged turtle completes 1,000-km journey from Odisha to Andhra coast
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Kendrapada: A satellite-tagged Olive Ridley turtle has successfully completed a remarkable 1,000-km journey from Gahirmatha, Odisha to the Andhra Pradesh coast in 51 days, traversing the waters of Sri Lanka, Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu.
The turtle was one of two female Olive Ridleys fitted with platform transmitter terminals (PTT) by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in collaboration with the forest department. The turtles were released on March 17 during the mass-nesting period at Gahirmatha beach.
"While one turtle lost its transmitter at sea, the other reached Andhra Pradesh waters on May 8, as confirmed by WII's satellite tracking data," said Prem Shankar Jha, principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF).
The transmitter sends location data each time the turtle surfaces, helping researchers map migration routes, foraging areas, and nesting grounds.
This tracking success follows another remarkable journey recorded in Jan 2025, when a tagged turtle (no. 03233) travelled around 3,500 km from Gahirmatha to Maharashtra's Guhagar beach.
Dr. Basudev Tripathy, wildlife biologist and officer-in-charge at the Zoological Survey of India's western regional centre, Pune, explained that while satellite GPS transmitters cost around Rs 10 lakh each, researchers also use more economical flipper tags costing Rs 100 per unit.
"Between 2021 and 2024, we tagged around 12,000 turtles at Rushikulya and Gahirmatha rookeries," he said.
The tracking efforts have yielded significant results, with five tagged
Odisha turtles
being spotted in Sri Lanka in 2022 and two more along the Tamil Nadu coast in 2024. A new proposal to tag 100,000 turtles at Gahirmatha and Rushikulya between 2026 and 2031 is currently awaiting approval from the forest department.
This year, Odisha witnessed record-breaking nesting numbers, with over 6 lakh turtles nesting at Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and nearly 9 lakh at Rushikulya beach in two phases.
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