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Desert Tortoise: Winter Improvement Tips
A desert tortoise patrols its backyard habitat. As the temperature drops outside and desert tortoises are slumbering in their burrows, we here at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center are busy...
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Makeshift Lab in Ecuador Helps Frogs
A few months ago I got the incredible opportunity to help bring the Amphibian Disease Laboratory’s molecular diagnostic capabilities abroad. Our amphibian disease laboratory head, veterinary...
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Internship at Desert Tortoise Conservation Center
Our student interns help desert tortoise conservation in a big way! Throughout 2012, the staff at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center worked with students from a local high school, West Career...
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White Christmas for Juvenile Desert Tortoises
A tortoise burrow can be seen the morning after a nightfall of light snow. desert. Juvenile desert tortoises released in September 2012 at the Nevada National Security Site are making their way through...
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Ode to the Creosote Bush
A desert tortoise pauses under the shade of a creosote bush. The southwest desert is thought of as a barren landscape by many, yet you may be surprised to learn that the Mojave Desert is diverse with...
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Tadpoles to Froglets: Headstarting Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs
These mountain yellow-legged froglets will soon be ready for release into the wild. There is an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, if it takes a village to rear one Homo...
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Time for Tortoise Training
Ben prepares to take a blood sample from a desert tortoise. The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) in Las Vegas, Nevada, is gearing up for the spring translocation of a number of desert...
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Tortoise in the Glass: Evaluating Health Problems
To you, a typical tortoise might look like this: But to me, a tortoise may also look like this: I’m a veterinary pathologist, which means I spend a lot of quality time looking through a microscope at...
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Planning a Perfect Desert (Tortoise) Getaway
A desert tortoise is in safe hands during translocation. My boots are sitting in the hallway covered in dust. Not from lack of use, I might add. But following such an inspiring field experience in the...
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Tortoises: Into the Wild
Each released desert tortoise had a radio transmitter fixed to its carapace with epoxy. It began early in the morning, before the sun peeked over the mountains. The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center...
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Hungry New Insectivores in Town
Researcher Frank Santana prepares to release his charges into a mountain stream. The little dotted frogs could not have picked a more picture-perfect day for their release into a remote mountain stream...
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Desert Tortoises: Healthy Expressions
This desert tortoise is on the thin side. Compared to the numerous mammalian species you normally encounter, such as dogs and cats, desert tortoises have relatively limited means of expression. To make...
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Look under Your Vehicle!
A desert horned lizard seeks safety under the tire of a truck. When working with animals, it’s important to always be aware of your surroundings, especially in the desert where I live and work. You can...
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With a “Headstart,” Local Turtles Make a Comeback
Researchers carefully placed radio transmitters on five western pond turtles to keep track of them after release. (Photo by Ken Bohn) Barely bigger than an English muffin, the dark-shelled turtle...
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Alligator Training
Xidi can be seen in the Zoo’s new Reptile Walk. While studying biology at the University of Massachusetts, I dedicated several years working closely with two captive, juvenile American alligators. In...
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Tortoise Fight
Two desert tortoises duke it out. The day started in the perfectly normal manner. Hopping out of bed at 3 a.m., I cruised on through the morning schedule. Pack? Check. Water? Check. Sunblock? Check. As...
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Volunteers Help Desert Tortoises
Volunteer Kimi Sharma checks on a resident of the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. I’m always amazed to see volunteers bouncing into the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center at 5 a.m. to start the...
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Rare Night Lizards Form Satellite Population at San Diego Zoo
A recently recovered endangered species, the island night lizard, has been added to the list of reptile species at the San Diego Zoo. Five night lizards arrived at the Zoo on July 25, 2014, brought by...
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New Generation of Rare Turtles Released into San Diego Reserve
Five juvenile western pond turtles were released into the Sycuan Peak Ecological Reserve today by a team of federal, state and zoo scientists. The released turtles are part of the “headstart” program,...
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Rare Frogs Holding Their Own Despite Drought Conditions
A recent survey of mountain yellow-legged frogs released into the wild by San Diego Zoo Global wildlife conservationists indicates that the populations are showing signs of stress related to drought...
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