Pamela carefully places a desert tortoise into the Mojave Desert.
It’s 5 a.m. and a busy morning for the staff at the San Diego Zoo Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) in Las Vegas, Nevada. We are anxious for the big day ahead, because it’s time for our fall translocation of desert tortoises back to the Mojave Desert, where they will live freely in their native habitat.
This day begins unlike most days in the Las Vegas Valley; the air is cool, and dark, ominous clouds linger over the city. As our mini-caravan of 3 vehicles, 10 people, and 72 tortoises head south on the I-15 toward the U.S. Fish & Wildlife-approved release site, we enjoy a torrential downpour of rain! The clouds are so dark, and the wind and rain are so strong, that it’s difficult to see the vehicles ahead of us. It has been a long, hot, dry summer, and we are thrilled to see the rain, but we think that perhaps this may not be the best day for hiking and releasing tortoises. But only moments later the storm passes, the skies are clear, and it’s another beautiful morning in the Mojave Desert.
The DTCC team provides fluids to a tortoise about to be released.
When we arrive at the release site, DTCC staff members administer fluids to the tortoises, ensuring they are well hydrated for their new journey. We take our time, because we want to give every tortoise the best chance of survival, and providing them with these extra fluids may carry them through a period of unexpected drought in the months to come.
Once the final tortoise is released, we take a deep breath, admire the beautiful landscape, and head back to civilization. But on the way, we discovered a wild tortoise crossing a paved road. Normally, we would watch the tortoise from a distance, ensuring its safe arrival to the other side of the road, but not this time. In the distance we see a fast-moving vehicle heading straight toward us, so we immediately jump out of our truck, and Paul, one of our seasonal research assistants, quickly but carefully moves the tortoise off the road to safety several hundred yards into the desert. What a great way to end the day; we saved a wild tortoise from possible injury or death.
The desert tortoise moments before its rescue from an oncoming vehicle.
Every translocation we conduct takes place at a release site here in southern Nevada that is approved by our partners at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Nevada Department of Wildlife, and the Bureau of Land Management. The San Diego Zoo is the only organization approved by USFWS to return desert tortoises to the desert; that’s because we put tortoises through a full battery of medical and behavioral tests for at least a year to ensure they are completely healthy before they leave the facility.
Pamela Flores is a research associate at the San Diego Zoo Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. Read her previous post, Spring Desert Tortoise Translocation.
This is sucy great work you all are doing. Thank you so very, very much. And I’m sure the tortoises thank you too!
Great job to all who worked so hard for these tortoises. I hope they have a safe future in the wild. Do you have a way to keep track of them?
When you hydrate them before release, are you forcing fluids down the throat? Couldn’t tell from the photo.
Thank you for the blog and wonderful photos.
Great questions! Every tortoise that is released has not one, but two ID numbers on them so we can track them in the field for years to come! They also have their ID number notched into the edge of their shell in case their ID tags fall off. DTCC staff are highly trained in how to notch the tortoises without causing them pain or discomfort. They are also trained by San Diego Zoo veterinarians in how to provide fluids. We don’t put fluids into their throats because it could get into their lungs. Instead, we do a technique called epicoelomic fluid administration in which we inject fluids directly into a tortoise so it can be absorbed by the bladder. We have found that tortoises respond really well to this treatment, and we do it so carefully that there is little or no pain involved (for us or for the tortoises!). It takes us much longer to release them because we go through these steps, but it’s all worth it when we know they are thriving in the wild.
Pamela
Very well written I enjoyed this latest blog. How long does it take for the mother to wean her baby tortoise and then do they go their separate ways?
What a worthy cause to which you’ve dedicated your life not to mention interesting!!!!
Rita Flores
Rita,
That’s a great question! Unlike mammals, tortoises do not provide any parental care, so once the eggs are laid, Mom goes on her way, and the babies are left to fend for themselves. But don’t worry, baby tortoises know exactly what to do in the wild. They hatch with a yolk still attached, and they use that as nourishment through the winter. So once they hatch, they usually find a rodent hole or tortoise burrow and head straight inside. They may surface from time to time, but they hibernate just like the adults. In fact, we have learned that if a baby tortoise doesn’t hibernate during its first year after it hatches, it will not be as healthy as other babies that do hibernate.
There are lots of people that have tortoise babies as pets (note: we absolutely do not support having tortoise babies as pets), and many times they do not let them hibernate because they think the babies are too fragile, but in actuality, not letting them hibernate makes them MORE fragile!
Thanks so much for reading our blog, and please keep the questions coming!
Please ask people with tortoises they can’t keep or find loose in established neighborhoods to not just drive to the desert areas and release them. It endangers the wild ones.