A hatchling Bolson tortoise enjoys a juicy treat of the fruit (“tunas”) of the prickly pear cactus.

Although their herbivorous diet consists mainly of grasses and other high-fiber plants, desert-dwelling tortoises – like this hatchling bolson tortoise born in 2021 as part of TESF’s bolson tortoise breeding program in New Mexico – also enjoy juicy treats like the fruit (“tunas”) of the prickly pear cactus. Prickly pear cactus grows in patches throughout the Chihuahuan desert, the native home of the bolson tortoise. If they can reach them, the tortoises will eat the yellow flowers of the cactus, but the real treats are the purplish tunas that ripen in August and September each year.