One of the more unique and quite frankly cool animals found in the Mojave Desert is the Desert Tortoise ( Gopherus agassizii ). My family has a connection with this nomad of the dessert in that during the spring of 1942, my grand parents inherited three desert tortoises when they purchased and moved into a house in Ontario, CA.
My grandmother quickly named and adopted her new pets. She and my grandfather struck up a deal with a local grocery store to donate lettuce and other vegetables to my grandmother to care for the tortoises. By the time I was born, the three tortoises became a populations of about 20 animals. Some of my earliest memories was to help her wake up the “turtles” from their hibernation, during which she stored the animals in a large box along with a bunch of news paper clippings to help insulate them a little bit from the California winters.
Over the years, those three tortoises expanded their family and ours into a breeding population of over 70 animals. Eventually, we donated the captive born tortoises to several zoo’s, shelters, and rescue to care for the animals. All in all, my family raised and cared for desert tortoises for about 60 years, the ownership of which was legal because family documentation and the fact that all of the animals were born in captivity.
Oddly enough, despite my best efforts I did not a desert tortoise in the wild until the late 1990s when I ran into the one emerging from a den during one of the Toyota Four Runner Jamborees which was located out of Stoddard Wells Road. Â Surrounded by others, most of whom I did not know, I quietly photograph the tortoise and pointed him out to my brother and two friends. Â I chose not to point him out for fear of someone in the group would take it after we left.
Since this initial sighting, I have found four more in the wild. One sighting occurred while driving the old Mojave Road with my father. The animal was just walking down the trail. We stopped and waited about 45 minutes for the animal to clear the road. The other animal were spotted while driving at speed along various highways in the Mojave. One animal I found walking down the middle of the road and had I not stopped and moved the animal off the road, it surely would not have survived long.
When born, the tortoises shell is thin and fragile which makes it an easy food source for Ravens, Gila monsters, kit foxes, roadrunners, coyotes, and fire ants. Only about 2% are expected to reach maturity and the population in the Mojave is listed as threatened. Should you be lucky enough to see one in the wild, take your time. Enjoy the moment. Snap a photograph and then leave the tortoise along. I can tell you the exact spot of each of the five sightings I have had the good fortune to have experienced. Each sighting of this timeless desert nomad is unique, and should be protected.