THE BOLSON TORTOISE
Without the Bolson Tortoise the economy and culture of the Chihuhuan Desert will crumble to pieces!
The Bolson Tortoise plays an essential role in the Chihuahuan Deserts as well as in Coahuila and Durango culture. For the culture to thrive the community needs to work in harmony. There are tons of animals that live in the burrows that bolson tortoises create.
These animals include kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis), fire ants (Solenopsis), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), western diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) and black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus). As the Bolson Tortoises population decreases and all of it has an effect on other animals. Without the Bolson Tortoise there would be no burrows for the other animals to live in. (Bolson Tortoise | Turner Endangered Species Fund, n.d.).
The location of the Bolson Tortoise within the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve. The top map shows the borders of the reserve in thick black lines, the red dots indicate where there is abundant data recorded, and the star shows the Mapimí field station. The bottom map shows the location of the reserve in Mexico. Courtesy of PLOS ONE (Bolson Tortoise Geographic Location, n.d.).
Bolson Tortoise are not for human benefits!
While there are no known adverse effects of bolson tortoises on humans the bolson tortoise has been overexploited for food by local residents and railroad workers since pre 1940. Bolson Tortoises bring ecotourism to the Mapimi basin reserve. Rural communities used the bolson tortoise and used them as a source of food, collected body parts to sell such as their shells (which were used as dog bowls) and sold them as pets.
(Gopherus flavomarginatus, n.d.)
A Bolson Tortoise looking out over his home being destroyed. Courtesy of Reptile Fact (Reptile Fact, 2022).
Don't worry, there is some protection for these little guys.
Currently, they have become illegal to hunt, and have as pets. The bolson tortoise is protected under Mexican Law in CITES I. It states that they are prohibited from being traded except for scientific purposes ie. breeding purposes. Local residents would collect them and ship them by rail to the coastal pacific cities for gourmet consumption.
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A recent survey (Palomo-Ramos unpubl. data) found that 56 of 81 people interviewed in the range of the tortoise (but outside the Bolson de Mapimi Biosphere Reserve) had eaten them at some time in their lives, indicating that local consumption remains an important source of adult tortoise mortality (Anders et al, 2018).
An adult Bolson Tortoise in the captive reserve, courtesy of the Turtle Conservancy (Turtle Conservancy “Bolson Tortoise”, n.d.).
A Bolson Tortoise in the turtle conservancy preserve in the Chihuahuan desert. Courtesy of Turtle Conservancy (Turtle Conservancy, 2019).