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From today's Las Vegas Review-Journal:
"Lazy, do-nothing tortoise.
Mojave Max is supposed to emerge from his burrow each year to signal the start of springlike weather in Southern Nevada. So in this year without winter, what has the valley's most famous reptile been waiting for?
Max finally dragged his shell out of the ground for the first time at 12:41 p.m. Tuesday. It was the latest the desert tortoise has emerged from his winter slumber since 2000, besting the old mark by a full three days.
But don't go blaming this cold-blooded creature for having a shoddy internal thermometer. Though the weather may have seemed unusually mild to us humans so far this year, it hasn't been consistently warm, at least not by nature's standards.
"People think, 'Hey, I had my shorts last week,' but if you look at the temperatures, it has only been warm for short stretches," said Christina Gibson, spokeswoman for Clark County's Desert Conservation Program.
Tortoises and other hibernating animals are tuned to respond to the gradual shift of seasons, not momentary changes in the weather that could find them awake in the middle of winter with nothing to eat.
"Species can't be tricked the way people can be tricked," Gibson said."
