Desert Turtle Facts
The desert turtle, also called a desert tortoise, is a land dweller that belongs to the family of turtles known as Testudinidae. This turtle lives in the Sonoran Desert and Mojave Desert of the southeastern part of California as well as southern portions of Nevada into Arizona and New Mexico. The herbivorous desert turtle can go over a year without water and survives in an environment where temperatures on the ground are greater than 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Habitat and diet
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Desert turtles tend to live in the dry grasslands and gravel-filled desert washes below an elevation of 3,530 feet. These reptiles are cold-blooded and depend on the heat of the sun to remain active. The animal will eat grass, shrubs, herbs, cacti and wildflowers. Since rainfall in their environment is uncommon, the tortoise will actually dig small holes in the ground and return to them when it feels rain is on the way. The moisture gleaned through flowers and grass sustains the turtle, which in times of extreme drought releases a whitish paste from its system instead of urine.
Turtle versus tortoise
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A tortoise differs from a typical turtle in that its shell resembles a high dome and the legs are shaped like those of an elephant. The feet are rounded and designed for walking on the land, unlike the webbed feet on an aquatic species of turtle. Tortoise only go near water to bathe in it or to drink it rather than swim in it, which would be terribly hard considering the way the turtle's body is shaped.
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Burrowing
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The shell of the desert turtle can reach as long as 15 inches. The front limbs of the turtle are much more muscular than the back ones are. This allows the reptile to dig in the dirt, which comes in handy since the desert tortoise spends as much as 95 percent of the time in some sort of underground hole. It escapes the searing heat of the day by staying underground and--in the colder months where freezes are a possibility--the turtle is dormant. Some burrows go many feet into the ground, while others are only long enough for the tortoise to gain shade from the sun.
Reproduction
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The tortoise can breed at any time of the year, but usually this occurs in the latter part of summer and early autumn. The females have the ability to store the sperm from the males and lay the eggs in the late spring. The female digs a nest and deposits the eggs. The heat in the soil incubates the eggs over a span of three to four months. Very few of the turtles that are hatched survive the rigors of desert life to become adults.
Dangers
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The desert turtle is a threatened species in the Mojave Desert due to a number of factors. In addition to predation of the smaller young by creatures such as ravens, kit foxes, Gila monsters, coyotes, and roadrunners, humans have taken many as pets. The competition from livestock for plants, the expansion of civilization into the desert, and death from respiratory diseases adds to their decline in numbers. Touching a desert tortoise or harming on in any manner is an illegal act.
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