A different world of turtles

When you came to existence in this world and opened your eyes for the first time, your parents were
near you. It is not the same with turtles though. When they take birth there is no one around them. A
new world, water crashing on the beach, unaware of dangers, no one to take care of, is how they start
their life.

On 17th of September, we were informed that Mr. Mohan Upadhaya was arriving to share his knowledge
about turtles and their conservation projects. Hearing this I thought what is so special about turtles?
When he arrived he showed us a documentary on turtles and watching that documentary my mind was
filled with innumerable questions about turtles regarding their life span, reproduction, incubation
period, gender determination and a lot more.

I was stunned to know that once a female turtle has laid their eggs on the beach, they never come back
to see their young ones. Whenever a turtle has to lay eggs they would come to the shore and using her
back flippers dig a hole and lay her eggs in the hole. They prefer to lay eggs during night or in early
morning as there are a lot of predators roaming during the day. If she finds the shore unsafe she, would
return without laying eggs. The main purpose of the organization was to find where the eggs were laid
and then they dug it out and take it to safe place. If they find the eggs in a time span of 2 hours there is
90-95% success rate.

Average life span of a turtle is 90-100 years. Their gender is determined on the basis of the temperature
the eggs observing. Room temperature is optimum for male turtles while temperatures above 30 degree
C to 35 degree C are for females. Due to global warming, there is rise in temperature and also a rise in
numbers of female turtles. This conservation project is active in 28 beaches of Maharashtra in the
locations like Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and many more.

They conserve sea turtles. The incubation period is of 45-55 days for the eggs. To spread awareness
about the turtle conservation project, a huge function is held in Velas, which is attended by people from
around the world. The hospitality to the tourist is provided by the villagers and then when the turtles
finally come out from the net they are collected and left near the waters. They then themselves start
walking towards the beach and finally swim into their natural habitat.

I am sure we all felt very delighted and enlightened at the end of the session as Mohan sir provided us
with such intriguing insights on such an unexplored topic. This interaction indeed inculcated a spirit in
me to learn more about our fellow co-existors.

Nikki Suratwala

Class 10th