A Batagur baska turtle at the Karamjal Wildlife Breeding Centre in the East Sundarbans has laid 34 eggs. The turtle laid them on Saturday night in the sand beach beside the breeding project's pond.

Md Azad Kabir, officer-in-charge of the Karamjal Tourism and Wildlife Breeding Centre, said a sand beach had been prepared beside the project pond in advance to suit egg laying, and one of the project's turtles laid there on Saturday night. On Sunday morning the eggs were taken from the beach and placed in incubation.

The eggs have been put back in sand incubation to hatch. At the right temperature (27-28 degrees Celsius), they will hatch within 60 to 65 days. In 2021, four of the project's turtles laid 96 eggs, of which 79 hatched.

In 2020, two turtles laid 56 eggs, from which 52 young hatched. The average hatching rate is 90 percent or more, and the Forest Department hopes for about 90 percent again this time.

A Rob, station manager of the Karamjal turtle project, said the breeding project for the near-extinct Batagur baska was set up in 2014 at the Karamjal Tourism and Wildlife Breeding Centre in the Chandpai range (Mongla) of the East Sundarbans, starting with four male and four female turtles.

The turtles began laying eggs in 2017, and the project now has 436 turtles of all sizes. The Forest Department started it mainly for research into the breeding, reproduction, diet, behaviour and range of the near-extinct species. Its partners are Zoo Vienna of Austria, TSA of the United States and Dhaka's Prokriti O Jibon Foundation. The project is moving towards success, A Rob said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.