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Gold Butte National Monument is a United States national monument located in Clark County, Nevada, northeast of Las Vegas and south of Mesquite and Bunkerville. The monument protects nearly 300,000 acres of desert landscapes featuring a wide array of natural and cultural resources, including rock art, sandstone towers, and important wildlife habitat for species including the Mojave Desert tortoise (a threatened species), bighorn sheep, and mountain lion. The area also protects historic ranching and mining sites such as the ghost town of Gold Butte, although little but mine openings, cement foundations, and a few pieces of rusting equipment remains. The monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
The monument consists of 296,937 acres (120,166 ha). The Gold Butte National Monument fills a gap between Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, creating a continuous swath of conserved land and establishing a wildlife corridor. Significant wildlife within the borders of the park include Mojave Desert tortoise (a threatened species), bighorn sheep, and mountain lion, as well as Gambel's quail and chukar partridge. Important cultural and natural resources within the monument include rock art and sandstone formations. Within the park, "weather-chiseled red sandstone is incised with ancient rock art, and the remains of rock shelters and hearths, agave roasting pits and projectile points" may be found.
Source: Wikipedia
Tortoise at Palmitos Park in Gran Canaria
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aka the "State Tortoise of Florida", chowing down.
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Fall Break 2015: "South Florida Immersion"
October 26th: Sanibel Island
'When we were little,' the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, `we went to school in the sea. The master was an old Turtle--we used to call him Tortoise--'
`Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?' Alice asked.
`We called him Tortoise because he taught us,' said the Mock Turtle angrily: `really you are very dull!'
Texture by Skeletalmess
There is something to be said for being consistent, steady, well-defended, and living long. This huge Galapagos tortoise is one of God's amazing creatures.
Photo by Kahunapule.
A pair of gopher tortoises outside of their burrow
Un par de tortugas terrestres de Florida afuera de su madriguera
My last months have been full of exciting events, but also kept me really busy. So my wife's an my honeymoon on the seychelles was a great opportunity to get my gear out again and try out my new Sigma 50mm f1.4 and my new Sigma 10-20mm. This is a tortoise that was lying on one of the smaller roads on La Digue.
Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Mature male with a well developed gular horn. Near Daggett, San Bernardino Co., Calif.
USFWS: Gopher tortoises grow to be up to 15 inches long and weigh from eight to 15 pounds. With their strong elephant-like back legs and front feet specialized for digging, they are well-adapted to burrowing. The burrows provide gopher tortoises with protection from predators and from the elements by maintaining a fairly constant environment inside. They are most active in the warmer months but spend most of their lives in their burrows. Each tortoise will dig and use many burrows throughout the active season. The burrows can vary from three to 52 feet long and nine to 23 feet deep.
Their burrows also provide refuge for about 360 other species throughout its range. Some of those species include , black pine snakes, gopher frogs, Florida mice, foxes, skunks, opossums, rabbits, quail, armadillos, burrowing owls, snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, and many invertebrates. Several of the “tenants†are also legally-protected species adding to the burrows’ value to the ecosystem. Gopher tortoises can live up to 80 years in the wild and more than 100 years in captivity.
These tortoises are rescued pets, they now live in this garden area that includes the feeding platform that they are standing on. You can see signs of potential abuse on some of their shells.
Tortoise, Aldabra Class: Reptilia
Order: Chelonia Cryptodira
Scientific Name: Geochelone gigantea
Range: Northern part of Aldabra Island; Seychelles
Habitat: Very thick low scrub on an inhospitable coral atoll.
Diet: Wild: Occasionally live animals, mostly a grazer of a wide variety of plant material.
Zoo: dog food, crushed fruits and vegetables, vitamin/mineral supplements.
Gestation: Incubation: Eggs hatch after approximately 120 days.
Litter: 9 to 25 white, spherical, tennis ball sized eggs
Description: Sizes vary but males average 47 in. and 110 pounds. Largest recorded was 59 in. and 800 pounds.The shell is high domed and a uniform dark gray to black.Tortoises have huge appetites which they try to satisfy by 9 AM, then they will spend up to 16 hours a day lying in fresh water ponds or mud wallows. They dont swim well but may float. In the wild, some built-in mechanism seems to be lessening their reproductive instincts due to over crowding. In captivity, it is noted that there is more reproductive activity when the sexes are put together after having been kept apart than when they are constantly together. To kill a small animal they allow it to crawl under them and then quickly retract their legs, flattening their prey. They can live more than 100 years.
The Aldabra Giant Tortoise is a giant species of tortoise which is only found in its natural habitat in the Seychelles. It is one of the largest species of tortoise on the planet and is also one of the world's longest living animals, with one Aldabra Giant Tortoise individual reported to reach the age of 255 years old. These tortoises are about one metre in length and, as the photograph suggests, they have an incredibly long neck which is used to tear leaves from the branches higher up trees.