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The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and to the Sinaloan thornscrub of northwestern Mexico. [4]
The Desert tortoise is the state reptile of California and Nevada. Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. During the summer and dry seasons, they rely on the water contained within cactus fruits and mesquite grass.
Reptiles. Desert Tortoise. By Meghan Modafferi. Five eggs the size of Ping-Pong balls crack open as the tiny desert tortoises inside break through the shells. The two-inch-long babies...
The Mojave desert tortoise is a large, herbivorous (plant-eating) reptile that occurs in the Mojave Desert north and west of the Colorado River in southwestern Utah, southern Nevada, southeastern California, and northwestern Arizona in the United States.
The desert tortoise is a remarkable reptile that has thrived in the harsh Mojave Desert ecosystem for millions of years. These resilient creatures play a vital role in their environment and have unique adaptations that enable their survival in extreme desert conditions.
California’s state reptile is the desert tortoise. A desert tortoise spends 95 percent of its life in a burrow. A female desert tortoise can retain sperm and lay fertile eggs for up to 15 years after mating only one time with a male.
Desert tortoises are primary consumers, and they are prey for various mammalian, avian, and reptilian predators. Desert tortoises are also ecosystem engineers, digging burrows that are used as shelters by snakes (Serpentes), lizards (Sauria), birds , rodents , javelinas (Pecari tajacu), and insects and other invertebrates.
