Baby Turtles Try to Survive Against All Odds | Hidden India | BBC Earth

As the river's waters leave India behind, they continue to carry with them silt and minerals eroded off the land from as far afield as the Himalayas. These fragments are washed back to the coast, giving India its white, sandy beaches. It's these soft sands that attract a traveler returning to India's shores. Under the cover of darkness, the female olive ridley turtle makes her way up the beach. She has traveled the length of India, over 3,000 kilometers, to be here. She could weigh up to 40 kilograms. Her flippers are a paddle for swimming, less so for walking. This mass invasion is called the arebada, the arrival. They're here to lay their eggs. Digging down, she creates a hole in which she lays up to 150 eggs. Over the course of three days, 200,000 turtles will lay their eggs on this beach. Exhausted from all this activity, she must now cover the eggs. This is her final act as a mother. She will never see her offspring. They will be left to fend for themselves. 45 days later, the first hatchlings start to emerge. Most surface under the cover of darkness, but hatching continues into the morning. The young have been calling to each other inside their eggs, coordinating their hatching. Each one, just five centimeters long, must now face a hundred meter dash to the safety of the sea. It's their first day on earth, and the odds are already heavily stacked against them. Brahminy kites. They are easy pickings for them. And crows waste no time. Now the hatchlings are out. But they've coordinated their emergence for a reason. The beach is flooded with baby turtles. The predators can't catch them all. Closer to the water's edge, these hatchlings have a chance. The predators are occupied, but they have other problems. Instinct drives them on. The majority make it to the water, but this is just the beginning. Only one in a thousand will make it to adulthood.