Desert Tortoise

Nice shot Tonia. A very cooperative tortoise who gave you a nice look. All the greenery belies the desert environment. I'm glad you refrained from handling this guy. Handling has been found to be very disruptive to them. They often urinate which purges too much water out of their system. They are on a very critical energy/food/hydration budget. Also, it's been found that human handling often passes on pathogens to them which can be deadly. Sorry for the speech but I worked with endangered species for many years and have seen too much bad stuff happen to our flora and fauna. But, thanks for sharing your photo. You did everything right.

I'd be interested to know what you were trying to achieve when you decided to photograph this subject Tonia?

There are a number of suggestions I may have, but I might be totally off the mark, as the sort of idea I might have had to shoot this may be completely different from what you had in mind, and therefore be of little value in offering ;^)

Nice find Tonia. As is this is a good documentary image with excellent techs and a good inclusion of its habitat.

I echo Peter's remarks about handling tortoises; this can be extremely harmful to the tortoise. I am glad you treated this fellow with the respect it deserves.

Thank you everyone for your responses! Ashley with this image I was trying to include as much of the burrow and surrounding habitat as I could. I was trying to convey an 'animal in it's habitat' shot, and it would have been helpful if i had a wider angle lens! I did get a few close-ups as well, but moving around wasn't much of an option due to the heavy, stickery brush that hid the burrow. I hope this answers your question.

Nice find and capture, Tonia. I've lived in S. Arizona all my life and have only encountered these very rarely in the wild.