Lucia Meets a Desert Tortoise

Lucia Meets a Desert Tortoise

1On a warm spring morning, Lucia and her uncle Ray walked along a dusty trail in the desert. The ground was so parched that it cracked into little squares. Uncle Ray said the plants were thirsty because no rain had fallen for weeks.

2Near a large rock, Lucia spotted a burrow, a hole that a tortoise digs in the ground to make an underground home. "Let's wait quietly," Uncle Ray whispered.

3Soon a tortoise began to emerge, coming out of the hole a little at a time. First its head poked out, then its front legs, and finally its whole shell. The tortoise was sluggish at first, moving slowly because its body was cool from the night.

4The tortoise crawled onto a flat rock and sat in the sunshine. "It is basking," said Uncle Ray. "It lies in the sun to warm up its body." After a while, the tortoise nibbled on a small yellow flower, taking tiny bites one at a time.

5A lizard scurried past, running quickly across the sand. Lucia wanted to pick up the tortoise, but Uncle Ray shook his head. "We should only observe wild animals," he said. "We watch them carefully, but we do not touch them." Lucia took a photo instead and smiled all the way home.