NFWF Grant Profile

Utilize radio-telemetry to track head-started Mojave desert tortoises that have been released in the wild to estimate size-dependent survival and use lifelike tortoise models and camera traps to evaluate the role of raven predation in size-dependent tortoise mortality. Project will use collected information to gauge the effectiveness of desert tortoise head-starting as a recovery tool and to understand the role that ravens play in limiting survival and recruitment of young tortoises into declining desert tortoise populations.