Status & Feeding Biology of Ridley Turtles: Aganasi Island, Orissa

The world largest rookery Gahirmatha, for Olive ridley sea turtles in Odisha along the Bay of Bengal coast have been in the global conservation attention since probably half of the world population of Olive ridley¿s are breeding in this region and the study was carried out in one of the remote island of this rookery, Agansi Isand which was formed after 1999 super cyclone. The Olive ridley being a Schedule I species in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. To ascertain the biodiversity and status of olive ridley turtles in this newly form Island the study was taken up. Although turtles spend six to eight month time along the Odisha coast from November to April, there was no detailed study on the dietary habits of breeding Olive ridley turtles. In this connection, stomach contents of freshly stranded dead turtles were analyzed to understand their diets during this course of work.