Page 12 - summer 2015 magazine flip

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The Tort Team recently celebrated our 20 Anni- the habitat our first chore was to turn on the sprin-
versary. Volunteers started klers; then the torts
taking care of Lucie, Max- would come out to see
ine and all the girls in us. Libby loved the
April 1995. The original sprinklers and would
habitat was located behind walk back and forth
the old Visitor Center, Roger Kolar/Google Earth Maps until she was soaked;
which is now the Admin- we still wonder if she is
istration Building. The really a desert tortoise.
girls had a large area that We would put all of the
stretched to what is now food into one or two
the Visitor Center classroom. plates to feed everyone.
Some things never change; Maxine ate the most every
Max’s area was smaller than his current enclo- time.
sure. The habitat had low brick walls on all sides, so
visitors could view the tortoises (and step into the
habitat!). 2015

Most
visitors nev- 2010
er found the
habitat, so
we were of-
ten out there
Janis Kadlec alone with

the torts, not

Max’s Original Habitat — c1999 like now.
We had a Pat Williams
clicker to keep count of the visitors and it would of-
ten read 14 or so. In those days, each person was as-
signed a Inset image (in red) shows the girls in the female habitat
in 2010. The framing photo is how the habitat looks today.
day for the
entire sea- The current habitat opened in April 2010. Max has
son — we a nice sized area, but the girls have a wonderful area
had with lots of space to roam and many burrows to
Wednes- choose from. The new habitats have plenty of plants
day. When for the tortoises to eat and with the help of the Native
we entered Plant Team, the habitats look great. We started feed-
Friends Archives ing each tortoise individually and filling out the Tor-

toise Care Sheet for each tortoise. We’ve kept the rec-

Vera Wray with Maxine — c1996 ords and can tell you how much Maxine ate in May
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