Under the early light on Tamil Nadu’s coast, hundreds of tiny Olive Ridley hatchlings make their way across the sand. They move in short, uneven bursts, leaving behind faint trails that the next wave will soon erase. Ahead of them is the Bay of Bengal.
A few metres away, forest staff and volunteers watch closely, guiding them when needed, making sure each one reaches the water.
This scene has started playing out more often along the state’s coastline.
Since 2025, Tamil Nadu has been trying to understand these turtles more closely, following where they go, where they return, and what helps them survive. On the ground, this work shows up in small ways — early-morning beach patrols, guarded hatcheries, and, sometimes, a small satellite tag fixed onto a turtle’s shell before it disappears into the sea.
In places like Thoothukudi, this effort comes together in moments like these, when hatchlings are released in groups and watched until they reach the water.
An update shared by Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary for environment, climate change, and forests, captured the scale of what is unfolding.
Baby turtles taking their first steps and leaving their indelible mark on the sands of time is one of nature’s countless miracles. One day, they will return to these very same beaches where they were born. This season, 51 hatcheries across Tamil Nadu are nurturing 1,788 nests… pic.twitter.com/CBeWf5EtPw
— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) March 15, 2026
“Baby turtles taking their first steps and leaving their indelible mark on the sands of time is one of nature’s countless miracles. One day, they will return to these very same beaches where they were born. This season, 51 hatcheries across Tamil Nadu are nurturing 1,788 nests containing 2,07,653 eggs,” she wrote on X.
Watching over the nests
Long before the hatchlings appear, the work begins on the beach. During nesting season, teams walk along the shoreline at night and in the early hours of the morning, looking for fresh tracks in the sand. When they find a nest, they carefully collect the eggs and move them to hatcheries set up a little away from the tide line.
On open beaches, eggs can be lost easily — to predators, to human activity, or to shifting tides.
Inside these fenced enclosures, the eggs are buried again in sand and left undisturbed. Then comes the wait.
Days later, the sand begins to shift. That is when the hatchlings are released, usually at dawn or dusk, when the heat is lower, and their chances of survival are better.
Following them at sea
Once they enter the water, the turtles disappear from sight. For years, much of their journey remained unknown.
What researchers do know, though, is this: Olive Ridleys travel thousands of kilometres across tropical oceans, and still find their way back to the same stretches of coastline to nest. This behaviour, known as nesting-site fidelity, plays out on the ground in a simple way — a turtle returning to a beach it has not seen in months.
To understand this better, Tamil Nadu began tagging a few turtles in 2025 in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India. Small transmitters attached to the turtles send back location data after they return to the sea. Over time, these signals begin to form a map of where the turtles travel, where they feed, and when they turn back.
Kayal finds her way back
One of the first turtles to be tagged was later named Kayal. She was released from Besant Nagar Beach on 8 January 2026. In the days that followed, her movements appeared as small signals on a tracking system.
She moved south towards Marakkanam, staying in near-shore waters for nearly 20 days. Then she turned around.
Weeks later, Kayal returned to Chennai. At Marina Beach, she nested once, and then again. Across the two nesting events, she laid 272 eggs, including 135 eggs on 1 February 2026. The second nest lay close to the first.
For the team tracking her, this return was an early glimpse into how closely these turtles follow their nesting patterns.
Dr Suresh from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, who is part of the tagging project, shared that such movements help build a clearer picture over time. “Kayal’s resilience is encouraging,” he said.
Life beyond the shore
For Olive Ridleys, the journey is filled with risk.
Fishing nets remain one of the biggest threats, with many turtles getting entangled accidentally. Plastic waste in the ocean, coastal changes, and the loss of safe nesting spaces add further pressure.
What happens on the beach, then, becomes crucial.
In Tamil Nadu, conservation efforts have come to rely on a combination of small, consistent actions — protecting nests, tracking movement, and involving local communities in keeping watch along the shore.
It looks like someone walking along the beach before sunrise.
It looks like a fenced patch of sand, waiting.
It looks like a hatchling being guided towards the water.
And sometimes, it looks like a turtle returning — finding its way back to the same stretch of coast, and beginning the cycle again.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thebetterindia.com
