Speaking of Desert Tortoises...

We passed several flashing road signs in the preserve that said “Watch for Tortoise” and today we found out why: here was this desert tortoise hanging out on the shoulder of the road (the white stripe is the road boundary). We carefully pulled over to take a photo, making sure not to approach the tortoise – touching them or making them feel threatened causes them to urinate (some sort of defense mechanism, I’m not sure how that works though), thereby losing precious water that can leave them vulnerable in dry areas.