Desert Tortoise Conservation
What actions can we take to defend our desert tortoise populations?
The genus Gopherus first appeared during the Oligocene epoch, about 37 million years ago. The Desert Tortoise likely evolved around the early Pleistocene period, about 2 million years ago!
Until recently, the desert tortoise had been able to thrive in this environment relatively unfettered. Modern conditions, however, have led to the endangerment of the tortoise populations.
Factors contributing to their endangerment include:
As humanity continues to generate more and more tons of garbage every year, this has led to the increase in the populations of ravens and coyotes—the desert tortoise’s natural predators. Tortoise populations grow slowly because of their low reproductive potential. This can be in part due to the now amount of more ravens that are growing in numbers and feeding on the limited adult tortoises.
Invasive plants such as Asian mustard and red brome grass have overtaken many of the natural vegetation, essential to the tortoise’s diet.
Wildfires tend to be the most quickly damaging affliction to the surrounding animals and their environment. Other than decimating the flora and fauna, wildfires also release carbon dioxide and other gasses. In addition, sudden or increased levels of flooding exacerbated by global warming may also contribute to desert tortoise fatalities.
Human development, too, poses a threat to the desert tortoise and its environment through agriculture, energy projects, military exercises, and much more.
Translocation efforts have been made to relocate the tortoises elsewhere, however what has been found was that nearly 65.82% of the tortoises died, 15% went missing and the others died of natural causes. Translocation involves moving the animal beyond its normal home area, which would be relocation.
Although primarily tested in select farms, lasers might surprisingly be an adequate defense against ravens and other predatory birds for tortoises. Ravens mainly see these beams of light as physical objects and thus they are warded off by the perceived threat. Additionally, other efforts have been made with decoy tortoises that release a foul-tasting chemical to deter ravens and coyotes from the species in general.
Although these attempts are seemingly beneficial, in the long run, teamwork from government agencies is the best protector against many threats. BLM, National Park Service, military, state/private lands, and energy companies have immense power in the conservation of our tortoise friends.
The general public can maximize their efforts as well through education. Being informed is the best tool in what one can do to save these desert tortoises. By reading this page, you're well on your way!