Fauna of California by region

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 40. Chapters: Fauna of the Colorado Desert, Fauna of the Mojave Desert, Ring-tailed Cat, Desert tortoise, Western Scrub Jay, Crotalus atrox, Crotalus cerastes, Crotalus scutulatus, Lesser Long-nosed Bat, Desert Bighorn Sheep, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Anna's Hummingbird, Devil's Hole pupfish, Phainopepla, Sage Sparrow, Rosy boa, Chuckwalla, Tecopa pupfish, Black toad, Sauromalus ater, Crotalus mitchellii, California Quail, Bendire's Thrasher, Gambel's Quail, Desert iguana, Baja California Rat Snake, Desert Cottontail, Costa's Hummingbird, Mohave ground squirrel, Desert horned lizard, Shoshone pupfish, Zebra-tailed lizard, Tui chub, Le Conte's Thrasher, Urosaurus graciosus, Desert Woodrat, Death Valley pupfish, Amargosa Pupfish Station, Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizard, Desert night lizard, List of California Channel Islands wildlife, Mohave tui chub, Moapa dace, Desert cockroach, Sandstone night lizard, California rock lizard. Excerpt: The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a species of tortoise native to the Mojave desert and Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. They can be located in the western Arizona, southeastern California, south Nevada, and the southwestern region of Utah. The species name agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. Recently, on the basis of DNA, geographic, and behavioral differences between desert tortoises in the Sonoran and Mojave desert, it was decided that the species should be split into two separate species: the Agassiz's Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and Morafka's Desert Tortoise (Gopherus morafkai). This tortoise may attain a length of 10 to 14 inches (25 to 36 cm), with males being slightly larger than females. Male tortoises have a longer gular horn than females, their plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to female tortoises. Males have larger tails than females do. Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. Desert tortoises can grow from 4¿6"(10¿15 cm) in height and weigh 8¿15 lb (4¿7 kg) when fully grown. The front limbs have sharp, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. Back legs are skinnier and very long. Desert tortoise in Rainbow Basin near Barstow, California.The tortoise is able to live where ground temperature may exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) because of its ability to dig underground burrows and escape the heat. At least 95% of its life is spent in burrows. There, it is also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. With its burrow, this tortoise creates a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds and invertebrates. Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: the Mojave and Sonoran Desert tortoises, with a possible third type in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. They live in a different t