Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. As monsoon rains bring much needed water to Arizona’s deserts, you may notice some of the state’s beloved shell-backed reptiles on ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. This Sept. 3, 2008, file photo shows an endangered desert tortoise sitting in the middle of an eastern Mojave Desert road. | Reed ...

Desert tortoises have lived in the deserts of California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah since the Pleistocene. In the early years of the 20th century, they still thrived within the Southwest's arid ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Spotting a Mojave Desert tortoise is ...

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposal would ease permitting for projects that could harm the threatened species in an area with significant development possibilities. A long-awaited conservation plan ...

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 ...

In this April 4, 2008 file photo, Marines wait for a desert tortoise to move off the road at the U.S. Marine Corps' Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) (CN ...

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 ...

A federal judge has partly ruled in favor of environmental groups challenging what one called a vast "spaghetti" network of popular off-road vehicle routes in the Mojave Desert, which they charge are ...

As monsoon rains bring much needed water to Arizona’s deserts, you may notice some of the state’s beloved shell-backed reptiles on the move. State wildlife officials have a message for those who may ...

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 ...