Shawn Sartorius

In the arid wilds of the Chihuahuan Desert’s northern range in southern New Mexico, an icon of conservation dwells, deep in a hole in the ground, defying human standards of time. Her name is Gertie, and she is an endangered Bolson tortoise of mysterious age and endearing demeanor. Gertie's journey...

In the 1950s in Mexico, scientists first described a new species of North American tortoise. In the 1970s Several of these Bolson tortoises we brought to the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch including the first, a large female tortoise named Gertie, whose age is unknow, but experts estimate she’s...