Yes, I know my last real blog entry was about a tortoise book. Well, this entry is, too.

Thomas R. Van Devender has written this work on the plight of the threatened Sonoran and Sinaloan desert tortoises, relatives of the well known "regular" desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii.

"Differences in climate and habitat have shaped the evolution of three races of desert tortoises as they have adapted to changes in heat, rainfall, and sources of food and shelter as the deserts developed in the last ten million years. This book presents the first comprehensive summary of the natural history, biology, and conservation of the Sonoran and Sinaloan desert tortoises, reviewing the current state of knowledge of these creatures with appropriate comparisons to Mohave tortoises."

I haven't read it yet. I have of course added it to my Amazon.com wish list.

Links to info about the book:
University of Arizona Press web page (purchase the book here)
Electronic Green Journal book review
Smithsonian National Zoological Park book review

Try adding up all the fines you will receive if you mess with this animal:
Summary of Laws That Protect Desert Tortoises

Links to more great desert tortoise information:
Desert Tortoise Wildlife Information
Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii
The Desert Tortoise Council
California Turtle and Tortoise Club's Desert Tortoise Care Sheet
Desert Tortoise Diet Sheet

And a great desert tortoise picture to print for your kids to color:
Desert Tortoise Printout

Help maintain the shell life of turtles
Injured turtle washes up on shore at Coolum

As far back as I can remember in my life on the internet (which began in the early 1990s) I've been involved in the reptile and amphibian scene. And as far back as I can remember when it comes to turtles, David Kirkpatrick has always been the authority on shelled aquatic things.

When you google him, you get his home page at UNC which hasn't been updated since 1999. Yet, you'll still find that link all over the web. Here's a link to his turtle articles, as of 1999 at least.

Who knows how many turtles he keeps now, or how many more of his turtle articles are out there somewhere. David, do you copy? Are you still around?

Of course, I could try his e-mail address, but I don't really have much to say. I just wanted to give him a cross-country, cross-millennium high five.

This pancake tortoise could pass for my leopard tortoise, Scooter ... if Scooter were run over by a bus. How do they even fit all their organs in that flat shell?

Here is some good reading material on the species (Malacochersus tornieri):

David Kirkpatrick's article, originally published in Reptile & Amphibian Magazine
Natural History, also by Kirkpatrick
General Care, by Paula Morris
Keeping and Breeding the Pancake Tortoise, by Tortoise Trust