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The Tortuga Gazette Dedicated to Turtle & Tortoise Preservation, Conservation and Education Volume 54, Number 4 July/August 2018

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The Tortuga Gazette Dedicated to Turtle & Tortoise Preservation, Conservation and Education Volume 54, Number 4 July/August 2018 California Turtle & Tortoise Club the Tortuga Gazette Dedicated to Turtle & Tortoise Preservation, Conservation and Education Volume 54, Number 4 July/August 2018 Sonoran or Morafka’s desert tortoise, Gopherus morafkai. Photo by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Public domain. Morafka's Desert Tortoise, Gopherus morafkai (Murphy, Berry, Edwards, Leviton, Lathrop & Riedle, 2011) Gung-ho for GOMO by Roger A. Repp he preparation phase for this I had my scientific permits, my car- I have not personally processed a tor- particular column led me to a apace notching files, my datasheets, toise since the year 2001, there has T file cabinet drawer that has not my mass-measuring scales, my ruler, been no further need to open that been opened in over 15 years. Said my epoxy and my license plates all drawer--until now. drawer contains endless files of raw stuffed into my backpack with every We should address some of the data on the tortoises that were pro- field outing. And off I would go as- finer nuances of the tortoises in the cessed on my turf through my early sailing every tortoise hapless enough Tucson area before moving any herping years in Arizona. That’s right, to be in my path. There were many, further along with the narrative. The gentle readers, there was a time that and that is why I have an entire file local clade has recently been reclas- I was a genuine tortoise researcher. drawer stuffed with datasheets. As sified as the Sonoran Desert Tortoise 2 JULY/AUGUST 2018 C Gung-ho for GOMO by Roger A. Repp 1 O The Turtle’s Garden: Yuccas of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert 6 N Mike’s Turtle Net Picks by Michael J. Connor, Ph. D. 8 T In Memoriam: Speed Bump by Karen Berry 10 CTTC Directory 11 E Celebrating Turtles, Tortoises, and the Armed Forces by Karen Berry and Cristina Perovich 12 N Valley Chapter’s 2018 Annual Show Photo Gallery 13 T Study: Marine Mammals, Sea Turtles Protected by Endangered Species Act Are Recovering 14 S Meetings and Programs 15 (Gopherus morafkai). There is a little who were involved with removing ten volunteered to assist the various nomenclature trick that I have ad- wild tortoises from the hillsides of a researchers involved with GOMO opted from the local researchers that local mining corporation that was go- work on their various plots. In some combines the first two letters of the ing to mow said hillsides down. Over cases, we were following radio-trans- genus with the first two letters of the time, we saved 17 different GOMO mittered individuals around. In other species for any given animal or plant from certain death in the process, cases, various grad students visited species. Instead of writing “Sonoran not to mention three Gila Monsters my spots with me, and processed Desert Tortoise (Gopherus morafkai)” (Heloderma suspectum), or HESU, as some of the tortoises there. By many times over for this column, I those hillsides are now deep gorg- summer of 1995, I got involved with can simply use this little four letter es. But on these outings, we were three researchers who were working trick of theirs by simply calling them playing a simple game of find and full time for the University of Arizona “GOMO.” remove. What was learned here was as freelance herpetologists. None We should also mention be- how to find a very cool herp. There of these three actually ever moved fore continuing that nobody loves have since been many variations of up the corporate ladder of GOMO- GOMO more than I. There might be what to do with them when they are dom, being instead content to move some who love them as much, but found. on to other things when the money certainly not more. Throughout my During this period of time, GOMO ran out. It is out of respect for them formative years, I always kept at least was rapidly becoming the political that I mention them by name, for one tortoise of one sort or another. football herp of the Tucson Valley. In they were the first people who had And when I moved to Arizona, the short, there was money in GOMO enough trust and faith in me to get fact that I was now in a place where studies. And that money not only me a permit. They were Betsy Wirt, I could find one in the wild on any kept every local wildlife biologist Peter Holm, and Brent Martin. Brent given lucky day has never been taken who favored herp projects gainfully must have drawn the short straw for granted. I feel blessed and elated employed, it pulled in many new fac- between the three of them, for it was to live in a place that has them. By es from other states. Several of these on 27 August that he went out with loving the local variety of tortoises in wildlife biologists have since gone me to show me what was expected. such fashion, I can be called a “GO- on to successful careers with GO- After that, I was completely autono- MOphile.” (We can all be glad that MO-monitoring agencies as a result. mous with my tortoise work. Every the genus name for our local species Big shots they are now--and good on couple weeks, I copied my data- of tortoise does not start with an H. them, I say. Meanwhile, here was this sheets and handed them off to them. That could lead to some problematic author--fat, dumb, and happy, finding I only worked with this trio through misconceptions). scads of GOMO simply because he 1995, but remained heavily involved The event that set up the explosive liked seeing them. In time, the pros with GOMO work for six years after peak of my interest in wild popula- and I connected. I shared my spots that. That first summer of 1995, when tions of GOMO has already been with them, and they shared not only I was working with them, was by far documented in the March 1998 issue their money with me (not a lot—but the most enjoyable. of the Bulletin. In order to avoid the they didn’t get all that much either), For those unfamiliar with pro- risk of having hundreds of you injure but also got me what I really wanted. cessing tortoises, a description of yourselves in an all-out frenzy of And all that I really wanted was to be what is involved is in order. The first closet-clearing effort seeking that able to legally get my hands on them, thing that must happen is to have issue, allow me to briefly describe really get to know them, and mark the tortoise in hand. This is a pretty some of the contents. In February some of them for future reference. simple process when one finds one of 1991, I was part of a gang of four From 1993 through mid-1995, I of- on the move across open ground. Volume 54, Number 4 3 But it gets a lot more difficult if they vertebral scute, with the number The slopes of the peaks along the are in a burrow. The deeper in the inscribed by a magic marker. This rim of this half-bowl are south and burrow that they are, the harder they was also known as a license plate. As west-facing, so they gather sunlight are to remove. If I was able to touch these were the days before hand held for most of the day. This becomes them, I always succeeded in getting GPS units were readily available, the important in winter, as that is where them out. If they were in beyond my location of the tortoise was marked the majority of the GOMO head reach, I left them alone—and came on a contour map of the area being during that time period. The arable back later. Even though I was much worked. Weather conditions and var- soil that marches roughly mid-way leaner then, my size still limited me ious other climatic information were up the steep slopes is cluttered with from going after the really deep ones. also recorded on a formal datasheet, boulders great and small. Cutting Once in the hand, out came a stiff along with any circumstances consid- through the bowl of the terrain below caliper, which was used to measure ered interesting by the observer. We hillsides are a series of deep, steep length, width, and height at various will refer the reader to some titillating walled arroyos, the embankments of intervals along the carapace, dic- images of actual datasheets at the which are pockmarked with holes tated by the marginal and vertebral appropriate time in the text ahead. and mini-caves. This is where the GOMO go in the summer and fall. There were so many tortoises in these arroyos that Betsy was at first against adopt- ing the place, as she feared the burgeoning population there would reflect a biased and lopsided scorecard compared to normal patches of tortoise turf. But Peter and Brent wanted lots of tortoises, and talked Betsy into accepting the place. The Panther Peak Plot, as it would one day be named, yielded 110 different GOMO in just a one year timeframe! Throughout the remainder of the century, and on into Y2K, it became the play- ground for many up and coming tortoise Jedis. Enough! The previous ver- biage was all a sweet setup for what happened at Panther Peak The vanquished “Bad Day” is on the left, with the victor “Lion Bait” on the right.
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