marine turtles

Forest officials in Kendrapada apprehended two individuals, seizing 10 kg of spotted deer meat, a weapon, and traps. The poachers confessed to killing the animal on Friday night and were planning to sell the venison. They were produced in court and remanded to judicial custody. Environmentalists highlight the challenges faced by wildlife due to summer scarcity, making them vulnerable.

Adventurous rock climbers in Italy's Umbria-Marche Apennines stumbled upon an extraordinary prehistoric discovery: fossilized tracks of ancient sea turtles fleeing an underwater earthquake. These remarkable grooves, preserved for eighty million years within the Scaglia Rossa Formation, were created as the turtles slid across the seabed, later buried by a massive sediment shift.

The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea challenging the environmental clearance for Pipavav port expansion in Gujarat, questioning environmentalists' stance on development projects. The court emphasized the necessity of infrastructure for national development, while allowing the environmentalist to approach the NGT again with specific objections.

A young boy, Wylie Brys, discovered a significant dinosaur fossil at a Texas construction site while searching for shark teeth. This find led to the excavation of a unique, armoured nodosaurid from the Late Cretaceous period. The new species, named Ferropectis brysorum, highlights the rich paleontological history hidden beneath modern landscapes.

Severe coastal erosion has significantly reduced nesting beaches on Nasi-1 and Nasi-2 islands in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, delaying the mass nesting of Olive Ridley sea turtles. While Rushikulya beach saw over 2 lakh turtles, Gahirmatha's absence baffles researchers. Nasi-1 has shrunk from 1.5 km to 100m, and Nasi-2 from 2 km to 300m, with beaches becoming too steep for nesting.

INTACH's Mayurbhanj chapter has urged the Odisha government to establish a 'fossil park' near Baripada, highlighting the 'Baripada Fossil Beds' immense scientific and geo-heritage value. These 12-15 million-year-old marine fossils, including shark teeth and marine creature remains, offer crucial insights into prehistoric ecosystems and eastern India's palaeo-environmental evolution.