Arizona wildlife officials are encouraging residents to consider adopting a desert tortoise, as dozens of animals wait for ...

State wildlife officials are adopting out captive desert tortoises and reminding Arizonans why pets cannot be released into the wild.

Desert tortoises — the iconic reptile of the Mojave Desert — face plenty of dangers in the wild that scientists say pose long-term threats to the species: ravens, humans and climate change, to name a ...

A 3.5-million-acre swath of Mojave Desert between Ridgecrest and the Morongo Basin has received a new federal designation that advocates hope will help protect vulnerable wildlife like the Mojave ...

PHOENIX — They’re not fluffy, they don’t play fetch and they certainly don’t roll over. But there is such a thing as a lap tortoise. Dotty the desert tortoise climbs into the lap of Seyda Robertson in ...

I never imagined that closing dumpsters could help save an endangered species, but that's exactly what I learned during my time at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. What started as a volunteer ...

A team of biologists and volunteers released 51 desert tortoises in the Boulder City Conservation Easement Wednesday. (KTNV) — More than a dozen biologists and volunteers walked through the Boulder ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Spotting a Mojave Desert tortoise is ...

PHOENIX (AZFamily) —When it comes to one of the state’s most beloved animals, It’s not predators prowling about or a lack of food that’s killing tortoises. It’s people. And most of the time, we don’t ...

What has four scaly legs and spends 90% of its life underground? It could be your new pet. The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s desert tortoise adoption program began last week with more than 300 ...

Desert tortoises have lived in the deserts of California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah since the Pleistocene. In the early years of the 20th century, they still thrived within the Southwest's arid ...

PHOENIX — They’re not fluffy, they don’t play fetch and they certainly don’t roll over. But there is such a thing as a lap tortoise. What’s more, pet tortoises can wag their tails, will plod on up to ...