THE DESERT TORTOISEBY CARLAYA CHRISTENSEN AND AUSTIN PARKERSON

TABLE OF CONTENTS• Intro slide 3• Description slide 4• Story slide 5• Movement slide 6• Diet/food chain slide 7• Habitat slide 8• Adaptations slide 9• Life cycle slide 10• Survival stats slide 11• Behavior slide 12• Conclusion slide 13• Glossary slide 14• Bibliography slide 15

INTRODUCTION

Most people don’t know a lot about the Desert Tortoise because they haven’t actually seen one. So if you’re going to read this report you’re on the right track.

STORY THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

One day a jackrabbit bragged about his quickness to the desert animals. The jackrabbit said “No one has or will ever beat me, because when I run at full speed no one can beat me.” The Desert Tortoise yelled,” I want to challenge you to a race.”

Later that evening a path was planned and a start was made. The jackrabbit darted out of sight almost at once. He soon stopped and took a nap in the warm sun. He knew the tortoise could never catch up. Mean while the tortoise walked steadily onward. When the jackrabbit woke up, he couldn’t see the tortoise any were. He bolted towards the finish line, and when he got there the tortoise was standing there waiting for him.

DESCRIPTION

The Desert Tortoise looks really cool. Its colors are brown, olive green, yellow, black, pale brown, and plastron yellow. On their shells they have hexagons all over. They are 8-15 pounds. They also have sharp claws to help dig burrows.

MOVEMENT

The desert tortoise is a quadruped and they are slow moving creatures. They can walk up to 7 miles every day. They dig with their forelimbs and push soil out of the burrow with their hind limbs.

FOOD CHAIN

The desert tortoise gets eaten by a lot of different animals. The tortoise eats cacti that are fed by the sun and water. Then coyotes, bobcats, badgers, and golden eagles all eat tortoises. Next coyotes also eat bobcats. Finally mountain lions eat coyotes.

MAP OF THEIR HABITATThe desert tortoise lives in a very vast area. The states they live in are Southern California, Southern Nevada, Southwestern Utah, Southern and Western Arizona, and Mexico. The regions they are found in are the Eastern Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert. The ecosystem they are most commonly found in is the desert. The shelters they live in are gravel washes, desert washes, open washes, sandy canyon bottoms below 3,500 feet, burrows, rock overhangs, overhangs, crevices in rocky areas, shallow pallets, beneath shrubs, rocky canyons, and hillsides.

ADAPTATION

The desert tortoise has a few cool adaptations. They can burrow underground to escape heat. They also can store water in their bladder and pee when a predator picks them up. To keep themselves from losing moisture, they are able to tolerate high levels of urea in their bodies. To help, they can also go long periods of time without food or water.

LIFE CYCLE

1-14 eggs

In egg under ground between 70-140 days. 2-3 out of 100 live to adult hood

Mature at 15-20

SURVIVAL STATS

The desert tortoise is marked as an endangered species. Their populations’ numbers have decreased by 90% since the 1950’s. There are about 100,000 desert tortoises left. In the late 1950’s there were at least 200 adults per square mile. Now there are between 5-60 adults per square mile.

Changes in population

19921997

20022004

0

20

40

60

80

100

BuckFour Peaks

Chart Title

Buck Four Peaks

1987

1990

1993

1996

1999

2002

0

50

100

150

200

250

Maricopa

San Pedro

Ebajada

Maricopa Hualapai San Pedro Harquahala Ebajada

BEHAVIOR

The desert tortoise acts in some funny ways. First, fighting occurs when either two males run into each other, or when there is a group of turtles. Second, since there is only a small amount of rainfall yearly in the desert, they dig a pit to catch the falling water. They can also reuse the water that reaches their bladder. That is the reason they can go so long without drinking water. Finally, the reason they can live in a desert where ground temperatures can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit, is that they burrow themselves into the ground.

CONCLUSION

The desert tortoise helps all other desert animals survive with their burrows, because there are some desert animals who cannot dig their own and depend on abandoned tortoise burrows for their shelter. Soon the desert tortoise will be extinct if we don’t do anything about . If the tortoise goes extinct, cactus will take over our deserts and other species might go extinct as well.

GLOSSARY

Gopherus agassizii – the desert tortoise.

Carapace – upper or topside of the shell.

Plastron – stomach side of the shell.

Quadruped – animal that walks on four feet.

Urea – occurs in urine and other body fluids as a product of protein.

Pallot – a bed.

Clutch – the amount of eggs laid.

Endangered - almost extinct.

BIBLIOGRAPHYCraig Ivanyi. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. http://www.desertmuseum.org/

2006

Kristine Bonner. Desertusa.com

http://www.desertusa.com/reptiles/desert-tortoise.htm1

2006

Jamie Rappaport Cark. Defenders of Wild Life

http://www.defeders.org/

2012

Sophie Lockwood. Desert Tortoise. Childs World

Spring Valley April 11 2008