See a Desert Tortoise

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Imagine you’re walking in the Mojave Desert in the spring. You stop for a moment to catch your breath and spot movement in the creosote bushes next to you. Are your eyes deceiving you? Slowly, out of the bushes, comes a tortoise. About the length of an NFL football, the little guy slowly circles you, sniffing in your direction, and finally comes to rest in your shade. You are one lucky human. You are seeing one of the most elusive creatures of the desert: the desert tortoise. Spending 98 percent of its time underground in burrows it digs for itself, the desert tortoise is able to live through the extremes of cold winters and hot summers. In fact, it can live in places where the ground temperature exceeds 140 degrees. After winter, the tortoise is drawn out of its burrow by warmer temperatures to forage and look for a mate. Desert tortoises eat wildflowers and grasses, getting much of the moisture that they need from the plants they eat. Besides excavating their own burrows, tortoises may also dig basins to catch rainwater. They remember exactly where the basins are, and may be found waiting at their edge when rain is about to come. Speaking of waiting, female tortoises wait A LONG TIME to find a mate. They don’t even consider looking for a mate until they are 15 to 20 years old. While adult tortoises have a lifespan of 50 to 100 years, only 2 percent of fledgling tortoises make it to adulthood. This, combined with human disturbance of their environment, has meant a 90 percent reduction in the desert tortoise population in some areas. May it be a lesson to us! The desert may look empty or bare compared to forests or fields, but it is full of amazing creatures like California’s state reptile--the desert tortoise. If you cross paths with a desert tortoise in the spring, you just might see a bit of flower-crust around the edges of its mouth--remnants of the wildflower feast it just munched before it goes underground once again. BONUS: If you find a desert tortoise… Don’t pick it up unless absolutely necessary! Tortoises store as much water as they can--up to a year’s worth--in their bladders. If they get scared, sometimes they will void their bladder. And we don’t want that! If you find a tortoise who is in danger of getting hit by a car, pick it up with two hands, hold it just a few feet from the ground and put it down about 50 feet off the road in the same direction it was facing. Desert tortoises naturally will not go more than a few miles from where they were born and know all the resources in their area, so it’s important they don’t go far from home!

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