LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The winning class for the Mojave Max emergence contest met the valley’s favorite tortoise.
A fifth-grade class at Selma Bartlett Elementary was at Springs Preserve for their free trip after one student, Anthony, was the closest guess to when Max would come out of his burrow.
Anthony was off by just seven minutes on May 10. He said he chose that specific day because he guessed it for Mother’s Day, and it was a good guess since Max might have come out later.
This year was the latest time Mojave Max ever emerged from his burrow. He broke his own record, which he set last year, by two days.
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Pizza party and prizes
The field trip included a pizza party and prizes for the students. The class got to meet the real Mojave Max and received a tour of the property.
Katrina Smith, senior zoologist at Springs Preserve, said the program is a way to get out the messaging about tortoises and how to protect the desert ecosystem.
“Getting kids excited about wildlife, like having a live animal mascot to get kids excited about and learn something about the tortoises who live right here in our Mojave Desert, is a lot of fun to be a part of,” Smith said.
The Mojave Max program has been going on for 20 years. About eight years ago, the program moved to Springs Preserve.
Max lives in a 15-acre desert tortoise habitat at the preserve. Smith tracks him using a transmitter glued to his shell.
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