Nagapattinam: Carcasses of two olive ridleys were washed ashore in the coastal stretch between Vedaranyam and Kodiakarai in the district today.
Coastal areas of Nagapattinam coast attract a large number of olive ridleys every year during the nesting season, which begins in December and continues till March. The female ridleys travel towards the coast to lay eggs. On the coast, each female ridley lays around 100 eggs and returns back to the sea.
Each dead ridley was weighing around 35 kg. The ridleys might have been hit by mechanised boats while they were traveling to the shore. Forest Department sent the carcasses for post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause for their death. Olive ridleys have been classified as endangered species and the Nagapattinam wildlife department has set up a hatchery in Kodiakarai wildlife sanctuary premises to hatch the eggs artificially. The life span of ridleys ranges from 60 to 300 years.
