What do they have in common? Both are endangered animals. The wild Bactrian camel in the Gobi desert shares several things in common with the desert tortoise found in the US. Both can store water in their special urinary bladders, reabsorbing the water as needed and both are vanishing in numbers. Desert creatures hold a special magic, knowing how to live in sometimes "unlivable" conditions by our standards. In that light- we owe them a fighting chance to live and continue in their worlds.
Prior to the 1950s, desert tortoise populations exceeded several hundred tortoises per square mile, with most populations today having five to 50 individuals per square mile.
When people own or over handle desert tortoises and release them back in the wild they pose a danger to the relatives in the wild, exposing them to new disease.
Programs set up to adopt the desert tortoise include Adopt-a-Tortoise Program in Arizona.
To learn more about the critically endangered wild camels in China visit:
www.wildcamels.com
Thursday, March 30, 2006
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