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 — Arizona developers could face some obstacles if federal officials place the Sonoran Desert tortoise on the endangered species list. It could mean more restrictions on where and what land ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. As monsoon rains bring much needed water to Arizona’s deserts, you may notice some of the state’s beloved shell-backed reptiles on ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. FILE: A desert tortoise moves through the Muddy Mountains Wilderness in Nevada. (Scott Smith/Getty Images) Off-roading is now ...

The Fish and Wildlife Service in 2022 said listing the species found in Arizona and Mexico is not warranted. Environmentalists have returned to federal court in hopes of securing Endangered Species ...

The Sonoran Desert tortoise, whose range spans much of the state including Tucson, won’t get federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday. After seven years of review, the ...

The desert tortoise, a once-resilient reptile, is a keystone species in the Mojave Desert, where other animals depend for their survival on the burrows it digs. But it is imperiled in California ...

Conservationists are seething over the high likelihood that a critical habitat for desert tortoises will be impacted by a ...

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 ...

Spotting a Mojave Desert tortoise is increasingly difficult in the American Southwest. The tortoises, with their unmistakable domed patterned shells, live in California, parts of Nevada, Arizona and ...