TURTLE STORY

by Kartik Shanker
a r t b y M a ya R a m a s wa m y
‘Turtle Story’ by Kartik Shanker

Art by: Maya Ramaswamy

Some rights reserved: CC-BY 4.0

First published by Pratham Books (www.prathambooks.org)

Written by Kartik Shanker
TURTLE STORY
Illustrated by Maya Ramaswamy
Supported by Jasmin Infotech
by Kartik Shanker
The digital version of ‘Turtle Story’ is available here:
https://storyweaver.org.in/stories/8881-turtle-story
a r t b y M a ya R a m a s wa m y
First English Edition: 2005
Second English Edition: 2010

ISBN: 978-81-8263-285-1

Typesetting and layout:

Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore

Printed by:
Lotus Printers, Bangalore

Third Edition: 2017

Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore
www.dakshin.org

Registered Office:
Dakshin Foundation
A-001, Samvriddhi Gardenia Apartments,
88/3, Byatarayanapura,
Bangalore 560092.

Some rights reserved. The story text and the illustrations

are CC-BY-4.0 licensed. Which means you can download
this book and even make a new story - all for free!
 When I woke up in the morning, the sun was
shining again. For a moment, I wondered where
I was. And then I remembered. I was a baby
sea turtle – an olive ridley – in the middle of a
watery world. The ocean, someone had called it. Moments later, I was swimming as fast as I
Water all around, blue and green, little flecks of could, with those big teeth snapping at my little
white foam on lazy breakers, and the sunlight hind flippers.
playing games with the clouds. So calm and
comfy. I tucked my flippers close and floated for Just when I was beginning to tire, I saw the Raft,
a while, letting the current carry me along. a large floating mass of seaweed and driftwood,
that floats around the ocean, carried by the current.
I didn’t know where I was. But that doesn’t In the Raft are drifters, all the sea’s little and not-
matter when the water is warm and your tummy so-little creatures that go where it goes, round and
is full. Rays of sunlight bounced off my back, round the ocean, waiting for something to happen.
filling me with new energy. I felt I could spend Gratefully, I slipped into the Raft. I would not leave
the rest of my life here. this safe haven for many, many years.
But just then, a school of fish went rushing
by. And chasing them was a really big fish that
had lunch on his mind.

When he saw me, his eyes lit up.

“Mmmmm,” he seemed to be thinking, “baby

turtle soup!”

2 3
 The Raft was like a world cruise. It took you
to places that you had never been before, but
you saw it all from a safe distance. I enjoyed
it very much, but after a few years, I decided it
was time to be more adventurous. To explore the
wild world outside. I had heard wonderful things
about a place called the Reef where a lot of other
turtles lived.

Everyone said the Reef was the fairyland of

the ocean. That it was full of beautiful, brightly-
coloured creatures. Some quite harmless like the
clown fish, others venomous like the scorpion fish.

I wondered how I would find it.

All of a sudden, it became very dark, and a

huge shadow covered me. Alarmed, I looked up,
only to see the biggest turtle I had ever seen. His
back was soft and leathery. I stared. A turtle with
a soft back? Never. All the ones I know have very
hard backs.

The big turtle caught me staring. “Surprised?”

he grunted pleasantly. “You shouldn’t be. I’m a
leatherback turtle.”

How appropriate, I thought to myself.

4 5
 What a fathead, I thought to myself.
“Where are you going, Mr. Leatherback? “Its not my head that’s fat,
To the Reef perhaps?” I asked him young lady,” he said. I didn’t realise
hopefully. I had spoken aloud.
“Ah,” sighed Mr. Leatherback, “I wish I apologised quickly, and he said,
I had that luxury. But no, I am too busy “ Y o u k n o w, I w e i g h n e a r l y 6 0 0
searching for jellyfish. My favourite food.” kilograms. And I’m proud of it all,
“And where do you search for them?” including the fat which helps me
I asked. survive the cold and get through the
long journeys.”
“Out in the deep, deep sea,” said Mr.
Leatherback. “Sometimes I have to dive “That’s great,” I said, marveling
more than a 1,000 metres, searching , a t h i s s i z e , “ b u t b e f o r e y o u g o,
seeking. Where it’s dark and cold. Where could you tell me where I might
the sperm whales hunt for giant squid.” find the Reef?”

“Could you take me there?” I asked. “That way,” said Mr. Leatherback,
flicking a flipper and gliding
“No other turtle could survive in such gracefully away.
cold waters,” he said haughtily.
“Enjoy the jellies,” I called out as I
swam towards the Reef.

6 7
 It was on the Reef that I met “Do you know,” he continued, “that when she wants to
my friend Hawksbill, whose mouth nest, she migrates to islands in the middle of the ocean.
is curved like a hawk’s beak. Clear blue lagoons, white sand, they’re beautiful…”

We watched Green turtle graze in the They sounded spectacular.

green meadows beside the reef. Hawksbill “Have you been there?” I asked.
told me she was nearly 50 years old. “Oh yes, sometimes you have to crawl over the
“That’s old!” I said, “How coral to get to the beach,” said Hawksbill.
come she looks so young?” I shuddered. I would hate to crawl over sharp coral.
“Well,” said Hawksbill, Soft sand is what I like under my belly.
“Green turtle eats only “You won’t have to, don’t worry.” Another ridley
sea grass and algae, so told me, “we only nest on soft beaches.
it took her nearly 30 But you’ll see for yourself, when it’s time...”
years to grow up. You
and I will be adults by “How will I know it’s time?” I asked eagerly.
the time we are ten.”
“You will know,” she said mysteriously
as she swam off.

8 9
 I spent some happy years on the I knew I had to swim north with all the other
Reef, meeting many of my turtle ridleys, along the eastern coast of India until we
cousins. Apart from old Mrs. Green and reached the beaches of Odisha. Where I would
young Happy Hawksbill, I met Loggerhead lay my eggs. The little compass in my head
and plenty of other ridleys like me. Loggerhead would tell me how to get there.
was a grump. He had a really big head and a bad
temper, so no one went too close to him. “It’s only about 2,000 kilometers,” snorted
I usually ignored him, and continued Loggerhead as he swam off in a different
gorging on flying fish, direction. Show off! Just because loggerheads like
my favourite food. him sometimes swim almost 15,000 kilometres
to lay their eggs. All the way from California,
And then one day, just like that, I across the Pacific Ocean, to Japan!
was all grown up, and it was time to
go. I don’t know how I knew. Something
deep inside me told me so.

10 11
 The big journey began. The water
around me was full of other ridleys,
swimming powerfully. It wasn’t an easy
journey.

Along the way, there were many

dangers. Though I was now bigger than
most of the fish, and could eat them,
there were still sharks that could eat me.
But the sharks were not as dangerous
as the many fishing nets that we had to
swim past.

I swam as carefully as I could, avoiding

all the nets, especially the terrible trawl
nets. I managed to escape them all, but
some of my friends weren’t so lucky.

12 13
 There were many sandy beaches along the It is very difficult to move on land. I paused to take a breath
way, but I knew I had to swim all the way and looked up. The beach was long and dark, with a huge
north, to the beach where I had been born. dune and some bushes in front of me. I had heard there
Finally, I reached the beach of Gahirmatha, was a large forest behind this beach called Bhitarkanika.
the place where more olive ridleys nested With saltwater crocodiles, king cobras and all kinds of
than anywhere else in the Indian Ocean. other animals.
Or so I was told.
Suddenly, I saw another shadowy shape on the beach.
Today, I decided to lay my first nest. We It had four legs and was digging up a turtle nest.
always nest at night. I waited till the tide was It must have been a dog or a jackal. Not only
high, so that I wouldn’t have that far to crawl did they eat the eggs we laid, they sometimes
on the beach. I came in with the surf, and attacked us. I went back into the water as
felt land under me for the first time since I fast as I could. Later that night, I crawled
was a hatchling. The wet grains felt strange up again, and went up the beach into
and sticky at first. Past the high tide the Ipomea creepers.
line, the sand became very dry and
flew all around me. Slowly,
I dragged myself up the
beach with my front
flippers, looking for the
right spot.

14 15
 At my chosen spot on the beach, I cleared away the
dry sand, and made a big pit with my hind flippers.
Though I had never nested before, I knew I had to be
very fussy. I always put one flipper in after the other,
scooped up some sand and threw it out.

After scooping up many, many flipperfuls of sand,

my nest was ready. About 2 feet deep and shaped like
a flask with a narrow neck and deep cavity, it was a
beauty. I then began laying my eggs. 1, 2, 3, … 99, 100,
and then I was done.

I covered my precious eggs carefully with sand,

and thumped it down with my body. Finally I threw
some sand around to make sure that no one would
find my nest.

Quickly, I crawled back into the sea where I felt

much safer.

Two weeks later, I was getting ready to nest again.

We usually make enough eggs to lay two or three
nests during a season. Common sense told me that
it would be a good idea to nest again where I had
the previous time. It seemed like a good, safe place.

16 17
 That night, as I was waiting offshore, I noticed
that the wind was stronger and blowing from
the south. Suddenly I realised that there were
hundreds, no, thousands, of other ridleys around
me, waiting to nest. Oh, I had never ever seen so
many together.

And then, we were rushing up the beach.

Which was already full with thousands of other
ridleys, sand flying in the air, turtles bumping
into each other. Somehow, I found a clear spot,
and dug a nest for myself. The turtle next to me
was an old friend. She was in such a hurry that
she started to lay her eggs even before she could
finish her nest. I was shocked, we turtles never
do that.

“Its an arribada, lady,” she said, “we all get a

little crazy during this time.”

Nobody really knows why we do this. Maybe

it was something our great great grandmothers
decided to do many, many years ago, so that
millions of hatchlings would all hatch and come
out of the nest at the same time. And most would
escape being caught by birds, crabs and jackals.

Now, we have humans to worry about as well.

18 19
 Finally, it is time to leave and return to
my feeding ground. I will spend a year or
two there, eating and building up energy
for another visit to this beautiful beach.

As I leave, I think of the little ones I

have left behind. For 50 – 60 days, the
eggs will remain under the sand warmed
by the sun. And then one day, they will
hatch, breaking open the shells with
the tip of their snout. They will huddle
together, over a hundred hatchlings
under the sand, waiting for the sun
to set and the sand to cool. Then, in
the darkness, when it is safe, they will
come out, all at once. They will see the
moonlight bouncing off the sea, and
know which way to go. Hopefully there
will be no streetlights to make them go
in the wrong direction.

20 21
 They will swim against the waves
and dive under the oncoming
breakers. Oh, there will be big fish
and seagulls and eagles, all out to
get them, and seagulls and eagles,
but some will get away. Out into
the open sea where they will find
their own little Rafts, their floating
homes for many years. Then they
will grow up, and perhaps they
will come to my feeding ground.
Perhaps we will meet, though I will
not know them.

Still, I am happy knowing that

they are out there somewhere,
and that someday they will return
like me to this very beach to lay
their own eggs, and start the
whole wonderful circle of life all
over again.

22 23
 A MESSAGE FROM THE OLIVE RIDLEY TO YOU
Sea turtles are in danger worldwide, for many reasons. Some species of turtles are killed for
their meat, which is used to make turtle soup. The shell of the hawksbill turtle is used
to make tortoiseshell products like eyeglass frames and hair accessories.
Many turtle eggs and hatchlings are eaten by predators like dogs and crows. But the
biggest danger comes from fishing. Many sea turtles get accidentally caught in
Dakshin Foundation’s mission is to inform and advocate conservation and natural resource management,
a variety of fishing nets, drown, and die.
while promoting and supporting sustainable livelihoods, social development and environmental justice.We
In India, there are many conservation groups that are trying to save sea
adopt interdisciplinary approaches in our research and conservation interventions to promote ecologically
turtles. Each coastal state has one or more such groups.
and socially appropriate approaches to conservation and management in coastal, marine and mountain
What can YOU do to protect sea turtles? ecosystems in India.
[email protected]
If you live near a beach where turtles come to nest:
 Help keep the beach clean so that baby and mother turtles do not get hurt.
 Educate the adults in your locality about how streetlights and other lights near the
beach can be harmful to turtle hatchlings – once they hatch, hatchlings figure out
where the sea is by looking for the reflection of moonlight on water, so if there are
other bright lights in the area, they can get confused and wander off in the wrong Pratham Books is a not-for-profit children’s book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish high quality
direction, and into danger. affordable books in many Indian languages.To see how you can help their mission to get ‘a book in every
 Find out if your state has a local sea turtle conservation group and see if you can join them. child’s hand’ please visit www.prathambooks.org, www.donateabook.org.in and www.storyweaver.org.in
If you don’t live near a beach:
 Read more and more about sea turtles and talk to everyone you know about the
dangers they are facing. Spreading awareness is a BIG part of conservation. To Adhith and Murali, the incurable turtle boys
and all the other hatchlings!

Kartik Shanker is an ecologist with a love for both mountains Maya Ramaswamy is a wildlife enthusiast and
and marine life, and an occasional writer of children’s fiction. an illustrator. Her work has appeared in several
If he had a choice, he would spend all his time visiting cool books, including Walk The Rainforest With Niwu-
places, looking for sea turtles & diving at reefs, or hanging out pah,Nono the snow leopard and The adventures of
with his students, talking about fish and frogs and other inter- Philautus Frog.
esting creatures. His other children’s books include The Ad-
ventures of Philautus Frog and Lori’s magical mystery.

24
Under cover of darkness, baby olive
ridley turtles hatch from sun-warmed
eggs on remote beaches. One of them,
the little hatchling who is the narrator
of our story, is delighted to make it
across the beach and into the ocean
without losing her way or being captured
by predators.

But can our little olive ridley survive the

dangers of the ocean? Will she make it
past the deadly sharks and the terrible
fishing nets and reach adulthood? Will
she ever have the pleasure of laying her
own brood of eggs?

Find out in this charming life story of an

olive ridley turtle, and meet several other
interesting creatures along the way…