As monsoon rains bring much needed water to Arizona’s deserts, you may notice some of the state’s beloved shell-backed reptiles on the move. State wildlife officials have a message for those who may ...

A conservation story is giving people a rare dose of hope about the Sahara. Five hundred tortoises were released into a severely degraded part of the desert, and within five years, satellite imagery ...

A 3.5-million-acre swath of Mojave Desert between Ridgecrest and the Morongo Basin has received a new federal designation that advocates hope will help protect vulnerable wildlife like the Mojave ...

Here’s how you know a desert tortoise when you see one: It’s the thing that looks like it couldn’t possibly survive in the desert. They lumber along with these piston legs, like a stepstool that’s got ...

Spotting a Mojave Desert tortoise is increasingly difficult in the American Southwest. The tortoises, with their unmistakable domed patterned shells, live in California, parts of Nevada, Arizona and ...

California’s Mojave Desert has become the backdrop of choice for many Instagram influencers who dig the aesthetics of Joshua trees and the otherworldly arid landscapes. Joshua Tree National Park now ...

What has four scaly legs and spends 90% of its life underground? It could be your new pet. The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s desert tortoise adoption program began last week with more than 300 ...

The Trump administration rolled back the Endangered Species Act on Friday, slashing protections to the habitats of endangered ...

Researchers are using a button-shaped device to gather data about desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) and their habitats in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. Using iButtons, the researchers ...

Behind the fences surrounding this 40-square-mile outback of cactus and wiry creosote, the largest remaining population of Mojave desert tortoises was soaking up the morning sun and grazing on a mix ...

PHOENIX — They’re not fluffy, they don’t play fetch and they certainly don’t roll over. But there is such a thing as a lap tortoise. Dotty the desert tortoise climbs into the lap of Seyda Robertson in ...