Olive Ridleys

I've noticed that we often have several days of nothing much going on followed by frantic bursts of activity, usually on the weekends. The day we went to Kanchipuram was one of those overstuffed Saturdays.

Johnny and I were scheduled to go on a "turtle walk" that evening. Johnny is getting to be pretty wise about his own limitations, so after a full day of exploring temples and silk shops he decided to skip the turtles and go to bed. I, on the other hand, frequently thumb my nose at my limitations. So I went on the turtle walk anyway, knowing full well that I'd be a zombie the next day at church. (I was.)

Chennai's beaches are a nesting ground for endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles (and here), and an organization called the Tree Foundation is among several groups working on turtle conservation.

The group is tied to Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots organization. That hooked me. Dr. Goodall came to my high school in the late '80s, spoke with us about her conservation work and helped us set up a service club (a precursor to the Roots and Shoots clubs). I was really impressed by her ... normalcy. I'm not sure how else to put it. She was down to earth, obviously passionate about her work while at the same time clear-eyed about what can be expected of people.

So we met at the Tree Foundation's headquarters, where we saw some injured adult turtles the group had rescued. Most injuries come from fishing nets or boat propellers.

this one's missing most of its front flipper

We also saw a film about the turtles and the foundation's work. One thing I like about them is the way they work with the fishing communities to help them come up with local solutions to the problems. Youth groups (this is where Roots and Shoots is involved) meet with the fishermen and help them see why the turtles are good for the ecosystem and, therefore, good for the fishing village's livelihood.

One huge problem for the turtles is that the hatching grounds (which the turtles come back to for generations) are becoming more and more developed. The beach we walked wasn't even out of the city, really. The female turtles lay their eggs in pits on the beach, and then cover the eggs and go back to the ocean. When the eggs hatch, the babies crawl up through the sand and then head toward the nearest source of light, which for centuries has been the moonlight reflecting off the Bay of Bengal. Then they get swept up in the waves and off they go, either growing to adulthood (about 1 in 100) or becoming some bigger creature's meal (the other 99).

The nearest light source now (or at least the brightest) might be the security lights of a beach resort or the street lights along the East Coast Road or some other bright distraction that leads the babies in the wrong direction. The distracted turtles never get to the ocean, and so die.

Even before they hatch, the eggs get dug up by stray dogs or by kids scavenging along the beach. So. Life is lame (and short) if you're an Olive Ridley these days.

The Tree Foundation people try to give the baby turtles a fighting chance by moving nests into clusters and enclosing them with fencing and net roofs, and then by making sure the hatchlings make it into the Bay of Bengal. After that, they're on their own.

After watching the film, we walked out to one of the nest clusters and were just in time to see babies emerging from three or four of the nests. We weren't allowed to use a flash, so the photos are very dark.

It was so amazing! First the sand would begin to boil a bit, and then tiny turtles would claw their way up to the surface. So cool. Digging their way out of the sand helps the turtles gain strength in their flippers.

The Tree Foundation people then gathered the babies into baskets and took them to a spot about 20 feet up from the surf. Then the turtles were released and they started heading toward the water. A couple of people stood in the surf with flashlights to encourage them to keep going in the right direction.

Alas. No photos of turtles heading down the beach. It was fun to see, though. We released around 300 turtles, which means some of them might actually survive to lay their own eggs on that same stretch of beach. It was worth the late night.