Have you ever thought what dismays wildlife lovers – Read story

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New Delhi: It's the destruction of turtle egg that leaves maximum wildlife lovers across the the globe dismayed.

With a record six lakh Olive Ridley turtles converging on the sandy beach of Gahirmatha this year for the annual mass nesting, several million turtle eggs have been destroyed ironically by the turtles themselves due to space crunch leaving wildlife enthusiasts dismayed.

Since start of mass-nesting, described as ?arribada? (a Spanish term used for en masse laying eggs by turtle species) on February 22, the third highest ever congregation of marine species has taken place in unmanned Island with 6,04,641 turtles turning up for nesting till Thursday night, a wildlife official said today.

The marine species have so far laid over seven crore eggs. However, over three crore eggs have been damaged as per a conservative estimate, the official said.

Though there was ample space in the one-km stretch beach for turtles to lay eggs, they chose specific spots for arribada.

As a result, space constraints hit the nesting beach. It has led to damage of eggs, Gahirmatha Forest Range Officer Subrat Patra said.

(With PTI inputs)