Meet Emily the Desert Tortoise at Fredric W. Watson Elementary School

     Watson has a school tortoise! Known as Emily, she lives in our school courtyard which has been converted into a habitat. Through Emily, students learn about our fragile Mojave Desert. Desert Tortoises, scientifically known as Gopherus agassizii, are native to the Vegas Valley. Due to development and motorized recreation, these gentle reptiles are a threatened species.1 We hope that through education, Watson students will appreciate and help to protect the Nevada State Reptile.

What Do Students Do With The Tortoise?       Classrooms take week-long turns feeding Emily and giving her water. Her food is changed when necessary and Emily's water dish is changed daily. As our tortoise program matures, these children will be even more involved with activities such as measuring and weighing. In addition, Rick Watson (the man our school was named after) and Jerry Shupe (director of school programs for the local tortoise group) conduct courtyard workshops for the entire school from time to time.

Fast Facts We received Emily in 2003 through Tortoise Group. Rick Watson and Jerry Shupe (seen in the picture to the left) developed her habitat. They dug her burrow, planted tortoise friendly plants and built ramps. Mr. Dwyer, (the school's former librarian) was the on-site facilitator until 2008. As of 2008, Emily was estimated to be around eleven years old. During her last measurement, she was 12 1/2 inches long, 4 inches high and around 7 pounds. Emily eats Megadiet and forages for live plants.

What Is A Tortoisecam?       Tortoises spend about 95% of their lives in an underground burrow2. While this is how tortoises keep cool when it's hot out (and warm when it's cold out), it makes them difficult to study. Along these lines, Rick Watson has come up with a way to answer the question everybody wonders, What's it like inside a tortoise burrow? Necessity being the mother of invention, he developed "the tortoisecam." It is a long pole with some special features on the tip. There is a wheel on the bottom and a camera with a built-in light on top. With a long cable, this video camera is plugged into a television set. This device can be rolled into the burrow to transmit live images to the TV. This way, everybody can see what the tortoise is doing down there. One of these underground trips has been transferred to a video file. To watch, click on the picture to the right!

MPEG 3.31 MB Get Windows Media Player

Slow and Steady by Frank Asch Everything I do, I do slow and steady. It's just the way I am. I walk slow and steady, about half a mile a day. I graze slow and steady, storing water in my shell. I dig slow and steady, pushing dirt before me. I grow slow and steady, ten years before I mate. I evolved slow and steady, over thousands of years! But thanks to mankind, my kind may disappear, slow and steady.

Classroom Projects Emily has inspired many children to learn about desert tortoises and their ecosystem. Below you will find some tortoise projects that our children have created. More are on the way!

Tortoises like Emily live in American deserts. If you would like to learn about our local Mojave Desert, visit this site's page on the Mojave Desert. It's packed with photos and information. When you're done, you will know all about the habitat of the Desert Tortoise. Would you like to learn more about Desert Tortoises? Visit the Desert Tortoise links!