.jpg )
For the fourth time, near-extinct river turtle ‘Batagur Baska’ laid 35 eggs at a wildlife breeding centre in Karamjal of East Sundarbans on Tuesday.
Forest Department is trying to hatch eggs through natural incubation (keeping them in sand) process, said Azad Kabir, officer-in-charge of the breeding centre.
He said the process would take 65-67 days.
Batagur Baska is one of the most critically endangered turtles in the world and can only be found in the wild in the mangroves of Bangladesh and India.
In 2017, two turtles laid 63 eggs of which 57 hatched. The next year, two turtles laid 46 eggs, of which 24 hatched. Last year, one turtle laid 32 eggs and all of them hatched.