This past month, the Turtle Conservancy Board of Directors and Staff were invited to participate in the release of 25 Bolson Tortoises back into their Pleistocene range. Joining 75 others that now range free on the Armendaris Ranch, these tortoises are part of a group of over 700 captive-bred Bolson Tortoises raised on Ted Turner's Armendaris and Ladder Ranches in New Mexico. Bolson tortoises were unknown to science until the remnant population in Mexico was discovered in 1959. Wild bolson tortoises have been absent from the continental U.S. for over 10,000 years, during the late Pleistocene Epoch.
"It's a remarkable feeling, to return an animal back to its native ecosystem," said Dr. James Liu. "What Turner Endangered Species Fund has done is create a perfect complement to our efforts to protect wild Bolson tortoises in Mexico. The tortoises in Armendaris are truly wild, and thriving. Now we don't have all our eggs in just one basket."
Paleontologists believe this species occupied Chihuahuan Desert grasslands in Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Today, the remnant population teeters on the edge of extinction in north-central Mexico, where the TC protects over 50,000 acres. The demise of the bolson tortoise was largely caused by humans who hunted and ate them and destroyed their ancestral homeland. This newly established population on the Armendaris Ranch is a wild assurance colony that has integrated seamlessly into the natural landscape, providing burrows for invertebrates, owls, snakes, and other animals.
We would like to thank the TESF team, especially Mike Philips, Scott Hillard, and Chris Wiese. Turtle Conservancy would also like to thank Re:Wild for their long term support of this project.
