RAS question
The Olive Ridley turtle nests en masse at:
Correct answer: (C) Gahirmatha beach, Odisha.
The Olive Ridley turtle nests en masse at Gahirmatha beach in Odisha.
Explanation
Gahirmatha beach in Odisha is the world's largest nesting ground for Olive Ridley sea turtles, making option C the substantive answer. The mass nesting event, called arribada, occurs between January and March. The PIB release supports the Odisha linkage: it describes monitoring, tagging and nesting enumeration of Olive Ridley turtles along the Odisha coast, and specifically names Gahirmatha, Devi and Rushikulya as major mass nesting beaches of Olive Ridleys on the Odisha coastline in the Bay of Bengal region. This is why the exam expects Gahirmatha, not a general Indian beach, as the en masse nesting site.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Marina Beach, Chennai is not identified by the Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as a major Olive Ridley mass nesting beach.
- (B) Kovalam Beach, Kerala does not match the Odisha coast mass-nesting setting covered by the PIB release.
- (D) Juhu Beach, Mumbai is outside the Odisha coastline context cited by PIB.
Concept
This tests environment and ecology through a species-habitat association: Olive Ridley turtles and their arribada nesting sites. It recurs in RAS because conservation questions often ask candidates to connect protected species with specific Indian coastal habitats.