On the 10th of March 2014 our hopes finally came true. The first Olive Ridley sea-turtles of this season hatched in our hatchery in Maravanthe, Kundapura. 

      Nearly two months after their mother came ashore to lay her eggs, seventeen little babies made their way through the eggshell out of the nest. With the support of the Forest Department, our Home Based Project team released them a few meters before the sea to give them a  chance to imprint on their natal beach, and guarded them as they crawled straight into the ocean. But these were just the first steps of a long journey full of threats.

       Little is known about the first years of sea-turtles. Once they reach the ocean, they get into a so-called swim-frenzy; swimming against the waves until they arrive in the open sea. They spend their first years in a variety of foraging habitats, threatened essentially by pollution and deep-sea fishing. Many feed on garbage, mistaking it with food or get caught in fishnets and die. The survivors travel long distances from their feeding to their breeding grounds. After mating the females come back to their natal beach and the circle of life starts again.

     We wish the baby sea-turtles good luck!