Living Desert’s Mojave Maxine emerges from hibernation, signaling the start of spring
The Living Desert’s Mojave Maxine emerged today from a several-month hibernation, signaling the start of spring and victory for some of the 1,400-plus students statewide who took part in the zoo’s contest to guess the date and time of the desert tortoise’s emergence.
Maxine rose from her annual brumation, or reptilian hibernation, at 12:06 p.m. Desert tortoises like 40-year-old Maxine typically enter brumation based on outside temperatures and emerge when warmer spring days arrive, according to zoo officials.
K-12 students from Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties submitted their predictions and were able to keep tabs on Maxine through a live feed of her habitat on the zoo’s website.
The first entry from each county that is closest to the exact date and time will win that student a $50 gift certificate, a Federal Lands Pass, a visit from a desert tortoise, Mojave Maxine T-shirts for the youth’s entire class and a $100 gift certificate for the student’s teacher.
“Desert tortoises are a vital part of the Mojave Desert and the Mojave Maxine contest is a fun and engaging way to get our community interested and excited about desert conservation. The program is also designed to help teach students what they can do to help protect desert tortoises,” said Peter Siminski, the Living Desert’s director of conservation.
“It’s always an enjoyable milestone when Maxine emerges, knowing that spring has arrived in our desert paradise,” he said.
