11th March, 2010: Wilderness Films India would like to announce the acquisition of some rare footage of the globally endangered Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)

As the culmination of many nights of fieldwork, last night at 1:30 am, our crew filmed the arrival of the final batch of Olive Ridley Turtles simultaneously at two beaches in Orissa's Gahirmatha and Rushikuliya, and filmed the entire process of them identifying nesting spots, digging the nests, laying over 50 eggs each, covering up after and heading back to the sea!

This is the largest of only three nesting sites for the Olive Ridley world-wide. Come winter, and more than half a million of these turtles mate in the calm ocean waters. Afterwards, the females land ashore for the arribada or "mass nesting." For the first time, in 2008, no arribada took place on the Orissa beaches. The same was repeated in 2010, and the turtles came in small batches, as opposed to the large arribada arrival.

Earlier in the season, Wilderness Films India camera operators swam into the Bay of Bengal and filmed, perhaps for the first time ever, the mating of the Turtles some three kilometers into the sea waters. Some of the shots were taken close to the surface of the water, while some were taken at a considerable depth. But in all situations, we were carefully not to upset the breeding biology of the turtles and kept a safe distance from them.