More than a million Olive Ridley turtles came ashore to nest and lay eggs last month on India’s eastern coast and hatchlings are now filling the beaches, providing some hope that the turtles may be back from the brink of extinction. (Sobering stat: Generally, only one out of every 1,000 hatchlings reaches adulthood.) Last year, about 700,000 turtles nested on the beaches. In 1997 and 1998, however, the turtles skipped the return home altogether and no mass nesting occurred. Turtle news is more grim across the world on the Baja peninsula in Mexico, where sea turtle meat is a delicacy and Easter is the biggest turtle-BBQing holiday of the year. Turtle eating remains common in Baja even though it has been illegal in Mexico for a decade.
