The animals are also vulnerable to a range of deadly diseases such as upper respiratory illnesses and the shell disease cutaneous dyskeratosis, which softens their shells. Finally, as climate change ...

A 3.5-million-acre swath of Mojave Desert between Ridgecrest and the Morongo Basin has received a new federal designation that advocates hope will help protect vulnerable wildlife like the Mojave ...

SAN FRANCISCO— A judge has rejected federal agencies’ approval of activities in the California Desert Conservation Area, including a vast network of off-road vehicle routes in the West Mojave Desert.

Following more than three decades of declining numbers, the Mojave desert tortoise has been officially declared an endangered species in California. The California Fish and Game Commission voted ...

Spotting a Mojave Desert tortoise is increasingly difficult in the American Southwest. The tortoises, with their unmistakable domed patterned shells, live in California, parts of Nevada, Arizona and ...

A desert tortoise in the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in California City in 2022. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) The California Fish and Game Commission has formally recognized the Mojave ...

The Tortoise Research and Captive Rearing Site at the Twentynine Palms Marine base shelters the young reptiles until their shells are tough enough to withstand raven attacks. The site is aimed at ...

For the desert tortoise, an approximately 1-foot-long reptile found in desert valleys across California and the American Southwest, a full lifespan can be up to 80 years. So while the Mojave National ...

Meet some of the US Military's cuter shells - their desert tortoises. The creatures live in the Tortoise Research and Captive Rearing Site (TRACRS) at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), ...

PICACHO, Ariz. (AP) — How long does it take a large desert tortoise to get to the other side of a southern Arizona highway? It’s still a mystery, after a state Department of Public Safety trooper ...