So long, Mojave Max

Thursday, July 3, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

There are many who would say that a desert tortoise possesses a face that only a mother could love.

Not so with Mojave Max, who died of natural causes Monday. He was about 65.

This local celebrity with the thick, scaly skin, stubby feet and hard, dusty shell earned the love and admiration of thousands during his nine years at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, where he showed Southern Nevada visitors and residents alike the desert lessons that a tortoise seems best-suited to teach:

Move slowly to conserve water and energy.

Take cover when it’s too hot or too cold.

And, above all, remember that much of what lives in the desert isn’t always easy to see, but it is always worth seeing.

Each spring thousands of Southern Nevada schoolchildren were encouraged to guess the date on which Max would first emerge from his burrow after his winter’s hibernation (called “brumation” in reptiles). A cold spring, as this year’s was, meant Max might not poke his beak outside until mid-April.

The annual contest drew thousands to research how tortoises and other creatures exist in the Mojave Desert’s often harsh environment.

As the mascot of the Clark County Desert Conservation Program, Max put a local face on the challenges that development presents to the desert tortoise, which exists only in certain areas of Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah.

Clark County officials say a successor has not yet been chosen. But that’s all right. As Max illustrated so well, important tasks are often best done slowly.

Rest well, old friend.