https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ua-researcher-discovers-new-species-of-tortoise
"In the hot, humid climate of Sinaloa, Mexico, there is a place where the landscape shifts dramatically. Dense, nestled and inevitably thorny Thornscrub of the north gives way to tropical, deep-green deciduous trees of the more southerly region.
The tortoise species change with the vegetation. To the north dwell the Sonoran Desert Tortoises, a species which, if you live in southern Arizona, you may find trekking amiably along many desert pathways. But south of the Thornscrub/tropics intersection, the tortoises are different.
"They can be strikingly yellow or orange, and their carapace, or shell, is flatter and squarer than what is seen in typical Sonoran individuals. The scales on their forelimbs frequently protrude and can be very spiky," Edwards said, describing the species he recently discovered. "To hold one is to know you are holding something special."
Many research questions remain for Goode's Thornscrub Tortoise, Edwards said, such as what they eat, how social they are, what their reproductive cycle is like or how far south their home range extends. "Our southernmost sample was collected south of the Rio Fuerte in Sinaloa," he said."
"In the hot, humid climate of Sinaloa, Mexico, there is a place where the landscape shifts dramatically. Dense, nestled and inevitably thorny Thornscrub of the north gives way to tropical, deep-green deciduous trees of the more southerly region.
The tortoise species change with the vegetation. To the north dwell the Sonoran Desert Tortoises, a species which, if you live in southern Arizona, you may find trekking amiably along many desert pathways. But south of the Thornscrub/tropics intersection, the tortoises are different.
"They can be strikingly yellow or orange, and their carapace, or shell, is flatter and squarer than what is seen in typical Sonoran individuals. The scales on their forelimbs frequently protrude and can be very spiky," Edwards said, describing the species he recently discovered. "To hold one is to know you are holding something special."
Many research questions remain for Goode's Thornscrub Tortoise, Edwards said, such as what they eat, how social they are, what their reproductive cycle is like or how far south their home range extends. "Our southernmost sample was collected south of the Rio Fuerte in Sinaloa," he said."
