California’s Mojave desert tortoises move toward extinction. Why saving them is so hard
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. — Behind the fences surrounding this 40-square-mile outback of cactus and wiry creosote, the largest remaining population of Mojave desert tortoises was soaking up the morning sun and grazing on a mix of wild greens and flowers.
But that didn’t mean the armored beasts were easy to find in a tiny spit of sand that Congress voted to protect in 1980 and designated with a name only herpetologists could love: Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area.
After a few hours of searching in late September, naturalist Lisa LaVelle tramped down a narrow path — past thorny brush that hid rattlesnakes and scorpions — and fixed her eyes on a tortoise the size of a shoebox.
She scanned its carapace for a GPS tracker or an identification tag. After spotting neither, she smiled and said, “Well, hello there! I don’t believe we’ve met before.”
LaVelle, who is part of a team charged with monitoring the overall health of the area’s tortoises, was elated by the discovery. “We have one more tortoise than we thought we had,” she said. “That’s great news for us and a species that needs all the help it can get.”
Sadly, California’s
