If we do not take action now, a species that has walked (slowly) on this planet since the pleistocene age (15,000 years ago, at the same time as mammoths and sabertooth tigers!) is at risk of being gone forever (“Bolson Tortoise Recovery Project”. n.d.). The actions of humans has caused the population of the Bolson Tortoise, aka the Giant Mexican tortoise, to drop to only 2,000 mature individuals, many of them in captivity, which has put them as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List (“Bolson Tortoise”, n.d.). This wise creature, the largest land reptile in North America (Durham, 1978), spends most of its life in the comfort of its burrow, deep within the Chihihuan desert of Mexico within the Rio Grande River Basin. They live up to 50 years in the wild, but with the effect of urbanization and climate change, many tortoises are not able to survive at all (“Gopherus flavomarginatus”, n.d.). The extinction of the Bolson Tortoise will lead to the termination of the Chihuahuan desert, which is a biodiversity hotspot containing thousands of unique species that are not adapted to live anywhere else (“Climate Change and the Chihuahuan Desert…”, n.d.). It is up to YOU to change this. Keep reading to learn more about how you can help.