2. This slide show is about the desert tortoise.
You will learn many things about this
animal like its diet, habitat, range, family
life, life cycle and anatomy.
3. The desert tortoise is an herbivore.
Grasses form the bulk of its diet but it
also eats herbs, annual wild flowers and
new growth of cactus as well as their fruit
and flowers. In early spring, a tortoise
emerges to feed on the fresh plants
blooming in its home range.
4. Desert tortoise can live in areas with
ground temperatures exceeding 140˚F
(60˚C) because of their ability to dig
underground burrows and escape from
becoming a predator’s meals. The desert
tortoise habitat is the American
Southwest. In California, the desert
tortoise lives in the Mojave Desert.
5. The average home range of a tortoise
measures from 27 to 131 acres (10 to 53
hectare). Mojave Desert tortoises range
from 47 to 51% of the desert.
7. It has stumpy, club like legs and feet.
When threatened this tortoise seeks
safety inside its high, domed shell.
8. These tortoises may attain a length of 10 to
14 inches (25 to 36 cm), with males begin
slightly larger than females.
9. The animals who want to harm the desert
tortoise are raven, Gila monsters, kit
foxes, baggers, road runners and fire ants
are all natural predators of the desert
tortoise. Desert tortoises that make it to
adult hood can live eighty to one
hundred years. Desert tortoises and
other reptiles are cold blooded. Many
countries forbid to capture or kill of
tortoises.
