🐢 Desert Tortoise

Round, elephant-like prints in desert sand leading to a half-moon burrow.

2–3 in. Blunt rounded prints, little toe detail. Shallow plastron drag between them. Half-moon shaped burrow entrance. Slow, meandering line.

Mojave and Sonoran desert flats and bajadas. Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah.

Diurnal in spring and fall; underground in heat

Grasses, wildflowers, cactus pads

A startled tortoise may empty its bladder — in the desert that can be fatal, so never handle one.