NREA teaches girl scouts about desert tortoise

Twentynine Palms -- Girl Scout Troop 1744 visited the Combat Center’s Tortoise Research and Captive Rearing Sight and the Archeology and Paleontology Curation Center to learn about the native desert tortoise April 10 and 12, 2016.

The troop visited the installation to earn their Wildlife Habitat Badges which are earned through education on native wild animals and how they live. Dr. Brian Henen, ecologist, Natural Resource and Environmental Affairs, taught the girls about the biology of the desert tortoise as well as how they survive in extreme desert conditions.

“The more we teach about the tortoise the safer they will be,” Henen said. “The girls learned about what kind of plants the tortoises eat, how they preserve water during the summer and what kind of borrows they make.”

The girls of the troop had the opportunity to hold some of the tortoises as well as feed the ambassador tortoises, Thelma and Louise. After learning about the animal, the troop helped Henen transport Thelma and Louise back to the NREA building.

“The girls learned about the tortoise because it is an animal that the base takes great care of,” said Juanita Rios, troop leader, Girl Scout Troop 1744. “The girls can help keep the tortoise safe with what they learn here.”

After their visit to TRACRS, the troop visited the Combat Center Curation Center to help build new borrows for Thelma and Louise. Building these new burrows was the troop’s last step before earning their badges.

“Making the burrows shows the girls what the tortoise does when it makes a home,” Rios said. “The girls can take all they learned at TRACRS and apply it to making the burrows. They learned many great things over these two days that can help preserve the desert tortoises.”