SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 16, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Now streaming, Utah wildlife officials highlight the desert tortoise in the August podcast edition of “Wild,” taped in the critter’s Hurricane stronghold.
“Our latest podcast episode delves into the lives of desert tortoises in Utah: where they can be found, fun facts about this unique species, factors that led to their population decline and how people (like you) can help,” the state Division of Wildlife Resources said Tuesday in posting the podcast online.
See the link at the bottom of this story.
Highlights from the 32-minute podcast:
- The DWR has a desert tortoise adoption program. But they may outlive you, as they can reach 100 years old in captivity, compared to 60 years old in the wild.
- A tortoise is a type of turtle, a type that specializes in living on land.
- The desert tortoise has been known to scrape a depression in the ground when it rains to collect the water for a sip.
- They have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species act since 1990, and are protected under state and federal law from being harmed, harassed or taken.
- In Utah they are only found in the extreme southwest corner of the state in Washington County.
- The desert tortoise hauls its own water, so the DWR asks that you not approach, much less pick up one (which is illegal), as they will void when stressed.
- They hibernate, in the desert, from October to February, and lay their eggs in the spring.
The podcast is Episode 47 in the DWR’s regular podcast entitled “Wild” which runs the third Tuesday of each month, produced by Faith Heaton Jolley, the division’s public information officer. She is joined by DWR wildlife biologist Ann McLuckie to talk tortoises.
While the podcast did not mention how many desert tortoises reside in Utah, websites such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service note that Utah is part of one of the largest desert tortoise locales in the country, shared with northern Arizona and the southern ends of California and Nevada where more than 2,000 live.
Other websites also note the desert tortoise is the official state reptile of California and Nevada:
- They frequent the same summer and winter burrow sites for years.
- Up to 20 or more of the creatures will share a burrow at times.
- They’ve lived on the earth for 15 to 20 million years.
