File picture of an Olive Ridley

Bhubaneswar/Berhampur, Feb. 12: The wildlife wing of the state forest and environment department has introduced web casting of the mass nesting of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles.

This is being done for the first time to spread awareness on the animal among the nature lovers, students and general public.

Web casting is a process through which a live video feed is shared among multiple users through the Internet.

The web casting shown on the website of the forest department is sourced from the Rushikulya rookery on the coast of Ganjam district.

Principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) S.S. Srivastava told The Telegraph: “We have started this to create an awareness among people on the mass nesting process and also to spread the message on the conservation of the turtles.’’

Mass nesting of the Olive Ridley turtles happens near Gahirmatha near the coast of Bhitarkanika national park, Rushikulya mouth and also at the mouth of Devi river.

In the mass nesting process, the turtles dig up sand with their flappers up to one-and-half feet deep to lay their eggs.

They cover them up with sand again and return to sea. Each adult female lays approximately 100 to 120 eggs at one time. After laying eggs, the female turtles go into deep sea without waiting to see the hatchlings that generally emerge around 45 days of the nesting.

Poonam Parida, a student of Class IX at a city school, said: “The video streaming of the mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles on the website of the wildlife wing will definitely help students to see the natural phenomenon.’’

“It is the earliest mass nesting recorded at the Rushikulya rookery,” said divisional forest officer Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra.