The Desert Tortoise
The desert tortoise is native to the Sonoran, Colorado, and Mojave
Desert of the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a long-lived
reptile, as important to its desert environment as its own environment
is to it. Many animals and plants in desert communities owe parts
of their lives to the desert tortoise and its burrows. Though
the tortoise adapted well over the millennia to the demanding
desert environment, it can't cope with many of the changes man
has wrought on the southwestern deserts in the last several decades.
The Mojave desert tortoise is now a federal threatened species.
The Sonoran desert tortoise is a species of very special concern.
This is where the Council comes in, and this is where you can
help.
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