New Mojave Max is younger, more urban desert tortoise

Nevada’s most famous desert tortoise has been stripped of his title, but his handlers insist he wasn’t fired or forced into retirement.

Clark County’s Desert Conservation Program simply decided to go with a younger, more urban tortoise as the living mascot for its Mojave Max education program.

The new Max is about 14 years old and lives at Springs Preserve, the Las Vegas Valley Water District-owned attraction near U.S. Highway 95 and Valley View Boulevard. That also happens to be the new home of the education program, which was moved from the visitor center at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area to bring it closer to its target audience.

“Since 2000, Mojave Max has helped teach thousands of school children how to respect, protect, and enjoy our desert ecosystem” program manager Marci Henson said in a statement. “We believe that this move will allow more Clark County students access to Mojave Max and the Mojave Max education program.”

Rather than uproot “the old Mojave Max” from his longtime home in Red Rock Canyon, county officials decided to anoint one of the tortoises already living at Springs Preserve as the new Max, said Heather Green, management analyst for the desert conservation program.

The new Max has been living at Springs Preserve since it opened 10 years ago. “This one has grown up with us, and now he’s getting to go to the big show,” said Thomas O’Toole, zoologist for the attraction.

O’Toole said the new Max was fitted with a transmitter a few weeks ago so he can be tracked as he selects a burrow to bed down over the winter. A camera will then be placed outside so the county can record his springtime re-emergence in what has become the Las Vegas version of Groundhog Day.

Each year, students at valley elementary schools compete for prizes by guessing when Max will come out.

The 15-acre tortoise habitat at the Springs Preserve was built to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specifications in 2015 and populated with five tortoises, one male and four females, all of them sterilized. Visitors can walk through the enclosure and maybe get an up-close look at the federally protected reptiles, including the newly appointed Mojave Max.

As for the old Max, Green said the approximately 28-year-old former celebrity will live out his days in the relative privacy of his outdoor enclosure at Red Rock Canyon, free to wake up whenever he likes without everyone making a big deal about it.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.