The animals are also vulnerable to a range of deadly diseases such as upper respiratory illnesses and the shell disease cutaneous dyskeratosis, which softens their shells. Finally, as climate change ...

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. An iconic Southern California desert dweller ...

A desert tortoise in the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in California City in 2022. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) The California Fish and Game Commission has formally recognized the Mojave ...

For the desert tortoise, an approximately 1-foot-long reptile found in desert valleys across California and the American Southwest, a full lifespan can be up to 80 years. So while the Mojave National ...