Gopherus agassizii
May 13, 2011: Kelbaker Road, San Bernardino County, CA
Spotted this tortoise crossing Kelbaker Road. An adult, ~35 cm. While we were watching it, a park ranger drove up and carried the tortoise across the road. Super cool!
May 14, 2011: Kelbaker Road, San Bernardino County, CA
Spotted a small (~5 inch) tortoise at 11.3 miles, and stopped to help it across the road. Shell was warm-colored, almost pinkish. We attempted to locate its burrow but were unable. We also spotted a large adult (~15 inch), and helped it across the road. 14.5 miles.
May 13, 2022: Microtower Site, San Bernardino County, CA
The students made an interesting, if a bit tragic, find down in the wash: the corpse of a young desert tortoise. I’d hoped to see tortoises on this trip – we’d seen several on our last visit – but it turned out that this would be the only sign of tortoises we would see during our visit. I was able to point out to the students how the carapace bones and scutes aren’t aligned (something we’d discussed in lecture).
Let me know what you think!