Named for the olive-green color of its shell, the olive ridley turtle is best known for its incredible mass nesting events, called arribadas, where hundreds to thousands of females crawl onto the same beach to lay eggs at once.
Olive ridley sea turtles are typically around 60-75 centimeters (2–2.5 feet) long and weigh up to 45 kilograms (100 pounds), making them among the smallest sea turtle species. They have a heart-shaped carapace, or top shell, and each of their four flippers is adorned with one or two claws on top. Although they breathe air, sea turtles live almost their whole lives in the water, preying on marine life like jellyfish, shrimp, crabs, snails, and occasionally algae. They can be found both in the open ocean and coastal areas in tropical and subtropical waters around the world, coming ashore only to nest on the beaches where they were born.
Unlike most sea turtles, which nest alone, female olive ridleys (along with their close relatives, Kemp′s ridleys) often nest in huge, synchronized groups called arribadas — Spanish for ″arrivals.″ Swarms of sea turtles will gather offshore before all coming ashore at once, covering the beach with thousands of sea turtles nesting at once.