CARLSBAD, N.M. — A program being carried on at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park to help the endangered Bolson tortoise is bearing fruit.
Sixteen young tortoises are expected to be transported to a ranch in western New Mexico to mature before being released into the wild.
The project is a cooperative effort between the Living Desert and The Turner Endangered Species Fund, which raises and studies the tortoises on media mogul Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch east of Truth or Consequences.
The group of tortoises, known collectively as a creep, was hatched last year at the Living Desert, the product of two mating pairs of Bolson tortoises in the zoo’s permanent residence.
The reptiles now are on display in a specially constructed cage adjacent to the enclosure housing the four mature tortoises at the Living Desert.
While sometimes difficult to spot — they are only inches long — they can be observed moving around in the shade provided by the grasses and the rocks in the cage, or moving slowly through one of the many tunnels they have burrowed throughout the shelter.
Like most desert animals, their daily activity is regulated by the heat of the day, said Ken Britt, Living Desert park superintendent.
“They’ll be active early in the morning, and they’ll get a little more active as the day goes on,” he said.
He noted they become especially active right around feeding time.
The Bolson tortoises feed on desert grasses and globe mallow, Britt said, and are given fresh produce and a calcium supplement for their shells and general health.
The project’s goal is to eventually raise enough healthy tortoises to reinvigorate the species’ dwindling numbers in the wild. Once found in new Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Mexico, the only survivors now left in the wild comprise a small population in the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico.
Studies have shown that desert tortoises raised in the “head-start” programs — programs in which young tortoises are maintained in semi-natural pens for a period of time to protect them from predators — and allowed to reach a certain size before release to the wild have a higher survival rate.
It may take eight or nine years before they can be safety released, and they will not reach sexual maturity until the age of 15.
For their part, the tortoises are doing their best to contribute to the program, Britt said.
As of mid June, the tortoises had laid 17 eggs, the first of which are expected to hatch around the first of July, Britt said.
“Everyone is real happy with the progress,” he said. “Working with the Turner people, they’ve been very supportive of our efforts. It’s really been a win-win situation for everybody.”
