Help for Desert Tortoises
Posted at 2:08 pm April 6, 2009 by Paula Kahn
The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) serves as a haven for lost, injured, and unwanted pet desert tortoises. Located in Las Vegas, it also helps those desert tortoises moved off of development sites throughout Clark County, Nevada. On February 1, 2009, the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research partnered with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Nevada Department of Wildlife in operating the DTCC. We are faced with many challenges in providing care to these animals, but we are definitely up for it!
Research associates Kirsten Dutcher and Daniel Essary check on the hatchlings in their new bins.
In the photo at top, you will notice that there is a hatchling in the middle with a pencil eraser glued to his shell. He kept flipping over and was unable to right himself (get back on his legs), so Daniel Essary, a research associate at the DTCC, had the brilliant idea of using non-toxic epoxy to glue the eraser on the little guy’s back. Now every time he flips over, he has no trouble righting himself!
As soon as we put them in the new enclosures, the tortoises immediately started sniffing around, eating, checking out their new burrows, and enjoying the sunshine. We hope that by putting them outside in natural heat and light with proper food and safe shelter, it will jumpstart their metabolisms and give them a great chance at long and healthy lives.
Paula Kahn is a conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.
Read more about the desert tortoise project
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April 6th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Great idea, Daniel Essary!! You’ve save this little tortoise and others like it a lot of anxiety and effort. Maybe even its life. Love that clever solution. Thank you on behalf of your little shelled wards.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
This is a wonderful program, Paula. Kudos to your entire team, who are helping to save this small but essential part of nature.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Love the turtle with a “hat”… I can imagine that as a children’s book.
April 11th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Congrads to the San Diego Zoo and the DTCC for helping these little guys survive. I hate to think what their outlook would be without you. Keep up the good work! (love the pictures).
April 27th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Many thanks, Dr. Kahn! We had such a great time yesterday learning about our endangered critter friends, the Desert Tortoise, and all the great work that you and your team are doing to help. It’s comforting to know that they have such dedicated and compassionate people working to protect and save them.
April 30th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for all the support you’ve shown to us and to this new project! It really means a lot to all of us here at the DTCC to know that you’re pulling for us and for the desert tortoises. Every day we feel lucky to be able to come to work at the DTCC and care for these amazing critters! For those of you who want an update on eraser guy, he has been doing so well outside eating, basking, etc. that he is now big enough to right himself without help! We actually removed his eraser a few days ago and he’s doing great. For us, this is a giant success in a tiny package!
May 1st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I wrote on your most recent post and came back to this one to check on the little guy that had an eraser. It’s great that he’s now able to keep from capsizing without the aid of the eraser. Ingenuity at work!