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State Symbols

The official state symbols represent the cultural heritage and natural treasures of each state or the entire United States

Nevada Symbols

Nevada Symbols

Animal, Artifact, Bird, Christmas Tree, Colors, Fish, Flag, Flower, Fossil, Gemstone, Grass, March, Metal, Motto, Nicknames, Reptile, Rock, Seal, Semi-precious Gemstone , Slogan, Soil, Song, Tartan, Tree, Tree

Nevada State Reptile

Desert Tortoise

(Gopherus agassizii)

Adopted in 1989.

The desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, the state reptile, is the largest reptile in the southwestern United States. It was adopted in 1989.

CHAPTER 235
STATE EMBLEMS; GIFTS AND ENDOWMENTS

STATE SEAL AND MOTTO
NRS 235.065 State reptile. The reptile known as the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is hereby designated as the official state reptile of the State of Nevada.

(Added to NRS by 1989, 1094)

Description

The largest reptile in the Southwestern United States, lives in the extreme southern parts of Nevada. Its hard, dome-shaped shell ranges from tan to black in color. This reptile spends much of its life in underground burrows to escape the harsh summer heat and winter cold. The desert tortoise can live to be more than 70 years old.

Tortoises may be distinguished from other turtle families by the following characteristics: the hind legs are cylindrical and elephantine in shape: the feet are short, broad and club-shaped. In some genera, the forelimbs are flattened and adapted for digging and burrowing and the toes are not webbed. The carapace (upper shell) is usually high and domed with the ribs modified in alternating triangular wedges. All are terrestrial and basically herbivorous, although they may occasionally eat invertebrates and carrion.

The desert tortoise, an ancient denizen of western North America, occurs today in the Mohave and Sonoran deserts in southwestern Utah, southern Nevada, southeastern California and western Arizona in the United States. It is the state reptile of both Nevada and California and has been listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act since 1989. It is also the largest reptile found in the Mojave desert.

The desert tortoise has a life span of 70-100 years. They normally weigh between 8-15 pounds, have a shell 9-15 inches in length, are 4-6 inches tall and eat herbs, grasses, wildflowers and some shrubs and cacti. They sexually mature in 14-20 years and produce eggs in May-July.

Very few of every hundred hatchlings reach maturity. Ravens take a greatest toll of the juvenile (about 2-3 inches long) tortoise population, while the shells are still soft.

Roadrunners, Gila Monsters and Coyotes also prey on the juveniles of the Mojave. Humans are responsible for killing many tortoises, intentionally by shooting them and capturing them, unintentionally by running over them with vehicles on the road and with off-road vehicles in the desert.

State Symbols

State symbols represent things that are special to a particular state.

symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun

Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together, compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century

1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.