Desert Tortoise

Description:

This newly hatched tortoise was entrapped by the buildings, patios, and walkways of Saguaro National Park's Red Hills Visitor. As it was trying to move in an easterly direction, I relocated it to a wash directly behind the visitor center where good habitat exhisted.

Habitat:

Tortoises can be found anywhere throughout the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts however, it prefers the rocky, well drained terrain of a bajada, or slope, where food and shelter exists.

Notes:

A second, newly hatched tortoise, of similar age and size, was found in the area the next day