Nevada State reptile is the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).
The photo was taken at Joshua Tree National Park.
The desert tortoise was designated as the official reptile of Nevada in 1989.The desert tortoise is the largest reptile in the southwest and can live more than 70 years.All states have lizards.
The desert tortoise is the largest native land tortoise in North America.It is protected throughout its range.In some areas, the population has decreased by as much as 90 percent due to a number of factors.Major factors threatening this ancient animal are habitat loss, off-road vehicles, and development.
Females don't breed until they are 15 to 20 years old, and then can only lay eggs when there is enough food.Only a small percentage of hatched tortoises live to adulthood.ravens, gila monsters, kit fox, badger, roadrunner, coyotes, and fire ants are some of the animals that prey on the desert tortoise.Eggs, juvenile, and sometimes adults are preyed on by them.
The desert tortoise has a high domed shell and spends most of its life in burrows that allow escape from heat or cold.The desert tortoise has a diet of grasses, herbs, wildflowers, some shrubs, and new growth of cacti.Rocks and soil can be eaten to enable more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach.
The tortoise consumes a lot of water from the grasses and flowers in the spring.A large urinary bladder can hold up to forty percent of the tortoise's body weight.They drink a lot from the pools they find.Adult tortoises can live a long time without access to water.
The tortoise's defense mechanism is to empty its bladder.It is illegal to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises, and this can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas.