“The long-term survival of the Sonoran desert tortoise is severely threatened by ever-increasing losses of habitat due to ...

Robinson, a Sonoran desert tortoise, has become a favorite among Arizona Game and Fish Department staff. Known for his curious nature, he likes to follow people, moseying over their shoes and ...

SCOTTSDALE — Sonoran desert tortoises are built for the desert. With their short legs and tough shell, they slowly but skillfully traverse Arizona’s rocky terrain and, like goats, can get to ...

However, one uniquely Arizonan experience may not instantly come to mind: Adopting a Sonoran Desert tortoise. Since 1981, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has facilitated a program to allow ...

Sonoran Desert tortoises (Gopherus morafkai) are a cool native animal. They are native to the Sonoran Desert and can be found anywhere in that region, including down to northern Mexico.

“They’re very relaxed animals.” Load YouTube video Wolf says that people are illegally breeding Sonoran Desert tortoises in their backyards. Sometimes dozens of tortoises from a single home ...

We saw this with withering saguaro cacti and some dead Sonoran Desert tortoises. This year’s record-breaking heat was too hot for even some desert wildlife to handle. “They can only take so ...

PHOENIX — The Arizona Game and Fish Department has about 260 Sonoran desert tortoises looking for forever homes. “That’s a lot. It’s the most we’ve had at one time, for sure,” said ...

Animals like the Sonoran Desert tortoise have no choice but to travel through it to reach different parts of their habitat. “That was a sizable amount of that land was impacted,” said Tluczek.

Many Arizonans may not immediately think to adopt a Sonoran desert tortoise instead of a dog or cat, but the animals actually make “fantastic and personable pets,” Tegan Wolf, coordinator of ...

A pair of Sonoran Desert toads ... Like the tall-armed saguaro cactus and the lumbering desert tortoise that are both native to this desert, these toads “are an intrinsic part of the region ...