Range: North American Genus ranging Southeastern California, western Arizona, and extreme southern Nevada and southeastern Utah. Also found in Mexico.
Habitat: Desert areas.
Description: It is a medium-sized species, large adults being about 11" long, while the record specimen measured 17". Full grown specimen can be as large as 12-14 inches (carapace length). It has a relatively narrow head and a large hind foot (to move through soft sand). It has a uniformly brown carapace when mature, and a low profile (not highly domed).
Adaptations/Habitat: In areas where winters are mild, a tortoise may use an enlarged ground squirrel burrow to hibernate. In central Sonora Mexico, the winters are so mild that they don't burrow at all. In the summer, they wander over the desert flats, retiring at night to short burrows which they excavate at the bases of bushes. However in winter, when temperatures get extremely low, the tortoises repair to the foothills and during the nights and cold periods they retire to communal burrows which may extend as far as 33 feet from mouth to end. Adequate food consumption during spring and fall, is crucial to the health of the tortoise. It requires a large area of habitat to find an adequate supply of food since it is an herbivore. It also needs shrubs for shade and cover from predators, as well as suitable soils in which to dig it burrows.
Breeding/Growth:
Diet: Primarily vegetarian; cactus, flowers, weeds, and grasses.
Exhibit: California Trails
Notes: STATUS:Endangered
Desert tortoises are being threatened by several diseases, including an infectious upper respiratory tract disease and a shell-thinning illness thought to be cuased by heavy metals, pesticides, or motor fuels. Also threatened by habitat loss (cattle ranching, housing development), direct killing (including off road vehicles), capture for pet trade, and disease.
