The Desert Tortoise

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The Desert Tortoise

• By Julia Allard

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Youll Never guess how big the Desert Tortoise
is!

• 12-24 inches long
• Weighs 50-80 pounds when full grown
• 10-20 pounds when 1-5 years old
• About 6 inches tall
• Huge!

3
How many babies does the female Desert Tortoise
have at one time?

• 3-6 babies in one clutch
• A clutch is when a tortoise has up to 6 eggs
• 2-3 clutches per year

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What does the Desert Tortoise look like?

• Brown and green
• Hard outer shell and scaly legs
• The shell has a swirly design on it
• The shell is like our fingerprints
• Every shell and every fingerprint are different

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What do they eat?

• Herbivore (only eats vegetables)
• Normal diet is wild flowers, grass, cacti, and
  lettuce
• If kept at home, gets fed lettuce, tomato, and
  sometimes even bits of carrot

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Is the Desert Tortoise endangered?

• Endangered
• In the 60s, people thought it was hip to have a
  peace sign on their tortoises
• The peace sign on the shell and the toxins in the
  paint would seep into the shell and kill the
  tortoise
• Then the desert tortoise became endangered
• Not very many left in California now