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A Mojave desert tortoise walking on cracked dry ground.
Photo: Tigerhawkvok, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mojave Desert Tortoise

Gopherus agassizii

California's state reptile, a burrowing tortoise of the southwestern deserts that is now critically endangered.

🐢 Turtles and Tortoises
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About the Mojave Desert Tortoise

Mojave desert tortoises weigh 10 to 20 pounds and have high, domed shells up to 15 inches long. When they pull in their stocky legs, the shell opening closes. They live in deserts of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico, dig burrows and hibernate in them in winter. They eat wild grasses, flowers, cactus pads and fruit, and swallow small rocks to help digest food.[1]

Quick facts

Scientific name
Gopherus agassizii[1]
Size
Shell up to 15 inches long.[1]
Weight
10 to 20 pounds.[1]
Diet
Herbivore. Wild grasses, flowers, cactus pads and fruit.[1]
Habitat
Desert, where it digs burrows.[1]
Where it lives
Southwestern U.S. to northwestern Mexico.[1]
Babies
6 to 13 eggs laid in June; hatch after 3 to 4 months.[1]
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List, assessed 2020).[2]

Fun facts

  • The desert tortoise is California's state reptile.[1]
  • Desert tortoises swallow rocks to help digest food.[1]
  • Never pick up a wild desert tortoise; it may lose the water it needs to survive.[1]

Vocabulary

burrow
A hole or tunnel dug in the ground by an animal.
carapace
The top part of a turtle's or tortoise's shell.
hibernate
To spend the winter in a deep, inactive sleep.
dehydrate
To lose too much water from the body.
critically endangered
A conservation label meaning a species faces an extremely high risk of dying out in the wild.

See it in person

Sources

  1. [1] San Francisco Zoo & Gardens. “Mojave Desert Tortoise.” https://www.sfzoo.org/desert-tortoise/ (accessed 2026-10-02)
  2. [2] IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. “Gopherus agassizii (Mojave Desert Tortoise).” https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/97246272/3150871 (accessed 2026-10-02)

Facts last checked 2026-10-02.

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