Animalia > Chordata > Testudines > Testudinidae > Gopherus > Gopherus agassizii

Gopherus agassizii ((Californian) Desert Tortoise; Desert tortoise)

Synonyms: Scaptochelys agassizii; Xerobates agassizii (heterotypic); Xerobates lepidocephalus

Endangered Species

Status: Critically Endangered
View IUCN Record: Gopherus agassizii

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  6.138 lbs (2.784 kg)
Birth Weight [1]  33 grams
Diet [2]  Herbivore
Egg Length [1]  1.614 inches (41 mm)
Gestation [3]  3 months 28 days
Hibernates [2]  Yes
Litter Size [3]  8
Maximum Longevity [3]  63 years
Female Maturity [3]  15 years
Male Maturity [3]  15 years

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Mojave desert United States Nearctic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
Sonoran desert Mexico, United States Nearctic Deserts and Xeric Shrublands

Protected Areas

Emblem of

California
Nevada

Prey / Diet

Acmispon brachycarpus (foothill deervetch)[4]
Astragalus didymocarpus (dwarf white milkvetch)[4]
Astragalus layneae (widow's milkvetch)[4]
Eremothera boothii (Booth's suncup)[4]
Lygodesmia exigua (brightwhite)[4]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Callipepla gambelii (Gambel's Quail)1
Chaetodipus penicillatus (desert pocket mouse)1

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Alaeuris caballeroi[5]
Alaeuris gopheri[5]
Alaeuris kinsellai[5]
Alaeuris paramazzottii[5]

External References

NatureServe Explorer

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Habitat Use and Food Preferences of the Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, in the Western Mojave Desert and Impacts of Off-Road Vehicles, W. BRYAN JENNINGS,
♦ 5Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0