Fact or fake? Turtles flock to Ganga banks after Maha Kumbh??
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Prayagraj: A video circulating online claiming that lakhs of turtles had flocked to the banks of the Ganga River as soon as the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj ended turned out to be a fake. Madhyamam did a probe on the video.
The Maha Kumbh Mela ended on the day of Shivaratri on February 26. After that, the video of turtles arriving in a group at the banks of the Ganges went viral, suggesting that the video was shot by Prayagraj. There were also claims that turtles would arrive at the banks of the Ganga at the end of every Maha Kumbh Mela.
One person in the video claimed that the turtles reached the banks of the Ganga immediately after the final dip of the pilgrimage. There are scores of turtles in the video, and there is a large crowd watching them. Madhyamam found that the video was not from Prayagraj but from Odisha. Every year, turtles come to the banks of the Rushikulya River in Odisha to lay eggs. The video is fabricated and circulated as a shot from Prayagraj.
On February 23, the same video was also posted on the Facebook account MH One News. It said that the video was from Odisha. The video was also shared on Instagram Reels on the same day. The title of the video was “When about 7 lakh Olive Ridley turtles arrived in Ganjam district of Odisha to lay eggs.” The Print also reported on this. A report published in 2024 said that about 6.82 lakh turtles arrived at the riverbank in Ganjam district of Odisha to lay eggs. Turtles had arrived here in a similar manner in previous years. The figures were also released. This year, the turtles arrived between February 16 and 25 to lay eggs. This is a natural process. It has nothing to do with the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. There are many fake videos circulating about the Maha Kumbh Mela.
🚨MASS TURTLE NESTING UNDERWAY IN ODISHA, INDIA
— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) February 22, 2025
Approximately 300,000 Olive Ridley turtles have arrived on the coast of Odisha for their annual mass nesting phenomenon, a remarkable spectacle of nature. pic.twitter.com/HuB4Vml6Ic