What is a Desert Tortoise

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What is a Desert Tortoise

Below is a transcription of the above sign found at the Valley of Fire Visitor Center.

Desert Tortoise – Gopherus agassizii

Habitat: Sandy or gravelly washes and blow sand deposits in Creosote Bush Scrub.

Size/Description: 9 to 14 inches (8.5 to 25 cm.) diameter, high domed shelf; stumpy elephantine hind legs. Front legs: flattened and armored for digging. Color: light tan to brown.

Food: Grasses, cacti, flowers of succulent plants. Most of its eating is done in the spring when flowering annuals bloom, and in the fall when later summer rains produce green plants.

Range: Southeastern California and southern Nevada, southeast into Mexico.

Adaptation for Survival: Obtains most moisture it needs from food, but will drink if water is available.

Comments: Can dig horizontal burrow up to 30 feet (10 m.) long. Hibernates in winter, emerges at time of blooming of bright annual flowers. Officially listed as a Threatened Species throughout part of its range, where habitat disappearing because of urban spread. Major program now in place in southern Nevada to preserve this species.

DO NOT DISTURB THIS ANIMAL IF ENCOUNTERED IN THE WILD. A defense mechanism of this harmless reptile is to empty its bladder on whoever picks it up. The desert-dwelling tortoise cannot afford to lose this liquid.

Desert Tortoise Photos

It only took me 10 years of living in the desert to finally see a Desert Tortoise in the wild!

The one below was photographed on Rainbow Rock Trail at the Valley of Fire State Park from a good distance away so we didn’t scare him.

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Desert Tortoise on Rainbow Rock Trail at the Valley of Fire – October 2018.