Hawksbill- Turtles of the A&N - 3

The Hawksbill is perhaps the least commonly seen of the 4 sea turtles that come to nest of the beaches of the A&N Islands. In nearly 15 years of travelling in the islands, I have seen them on only a couple of occassions, and not always in very pleasant circumstances...

A hawksbill hatchling on North Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary. This little fellow was found trapped in a small pool of water above the high tide line. It scrambled quickly to the sea the moment we picked it up and put it down on the sands of the beach (Winter 2006)

This is an adult that was found on the same beach on North Cinque the same day, but completely entangled in a fishing net. It was only chance that we found it and released it back in to the sea. Would have certainly died of exhaustion, heat and starvation otherwise (North Cinque Island, Winter 2006)

This one was obviously not so lucky (Wandoor, South Andaman, Winter 1998)

For more pics of turtles in the A&N you can look up
http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2009/11/here-are-few-pictures-of-turtle.html
http://3fotosaday.blogspot.com/2009/11/turtles-of-a-1.html

Turtles of the A&N - 1

The beaches of the A&N Islands are nesting sites of 4 of the species of sea turtles - the Olive ridley, the Green sea turtle, the Giant Leatherback and hawksbill. Here are some pics of these nesting turtles from different parts of this island chain

A nesting Olive ridley at Cuthbert Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in Middle Andaman Island, February 1998

A nesting Green sea turtle, South Sentinel Island Wildlife Sanctuary, February 1998

A Giant Leatherback returns to the sea after nesting at South Bay, Great Nicobar Island, February 2002

Fauna of the A&N Islands - 1

Nicobari Crab Eating Macaque, South Bay, Great Nicobar Island, Feb. 2002
Only two islands in the Nicobars, Great Nicobar Island and Katchal have a population of these macaques. In Great Nicobar in particular, they had become a big problem for the horticulturists and farmers on account of crop damage that they caused

Giant Robber Crab, South Sentinel Wildlife Sanctuary, February 1998.
The Giant Robber Crab Birgus latro is among the largest and the most land dwelling of crab species. It is found in a number of Nicobar Islands and only the South Sentinel Island in the Andaman group. South Sentinel is a small 1.6 sq. kms un-inhabited island that is known to have a good population of these crabs

Green Sea turtle returning to the sea after nesting, South Sentinel Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Feb. 1998.