It’s #DesertTortoiseWeek! 🐢 Every ecosystem has a keystone species — the “glue” that holds everything together. In our region, the Mojave desert tortoise serves this critical role, influencing over 360 species by providing shelter through its burrows. Unfortunately, the desert tortoise is facing significant challenges, including habitat loss, off-road vehicle activity, and increased predation by ravens, especially near human development. Follow along all week to learn more about this essential

Spider tortoise

To celebrate #WildTurtleWeek, take a moment to appreciate this important ecosystem engineer: the gopher tortoise! More than 350 different species have been documented using the burrows that gopher tortoises create. As you can see in this video, these range from mammals, like the imperiled Florida mouse, to amphibians, like the secretive gopher frog! Hundreds of invertebrates also use the burrows, and some species cannot persist without them. To help support gopher tortoise conservation, FWC rese