Species File: Exploring India’s biodiversity, one species at a time.
Olive ridley turtles are travelling farther than previously known. Early tracking data from tagged turtles in Tamil Nadu shows that some have already reached the Sri Lanka Dome, a little-known region in the Indian Ocean. Turtles from Odisha are also expected to arrive in the same waters, pointing to a shared ocean hotspot.
The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley, is the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles. Found in warm tropical waters across the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, they are named for their olive-green shell or carapace. Olive ridleys use both coastal waters and the open ocean, travelling long distances in search of food. They feed on jellyfish, shrimp, snails, crabs and fish eggs.
In India, Odisha’s Gahirmatha, Rushikulya, and the mouths of the Devi river are the primary nesting grounds. In 2025, over 650,000 olive ridley turtles arrived at Rushikulya for a synchronised mass nesting event, where thousands of female turtles come ashore simultaneously to lay eggs.
Despite their numbers, olive ridleys are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Species, with continuing decline of mature individuals. In India, they are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which offers the highest level of legal protection.
Survival remains a challenge. Only one in 1,000 hatchlings reaches adulthood, with the rest falling prey to predators. Olive ridleys face growing threats from fishing bycatch, ghost gear, coastal development, plastic pollution and climate change.
In a recent story that Mongabay-India published in April 2026, Chandana Pusapati, a Ph.D. scholar, who previously studied turtles, said, “Increasing plastic pollution at nesting beaches and foraging areas is an emerging threat, especially for females and hatchlings. Olive ridleys also prefer nesting near river-mouths, where plastic and other land-based waste often accumulate.”
Read more about the importance of local participation in conservation and how mass deaths of olive ridleys on Chennai’s coast call for action.
Banner image: An adult olive ridley turtle. Image by Jonathan Reynaga via Pexels.
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