https://youtu.be/QbALgKJhvBs?si=vxGTvSOThoEo8yph
*Throughout this video, I classify the tortoise as endangered (because that's what I was told) but since I did this hike, I've learned it is actually threatened (just one notch below endangered). That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches the endangered category in the future. *Also, in Death Valley, Mohave, and other national parks, rangers, and signs explicitly tell you not to pick up the tortoises. I believe that this is with hopes of stopping people from picking them up just to look at them, and pass them around among the kids, etc., like they do with their terrapins at home, an action which is bound to kill them. NPS staff know that not all people read the newspapers they hand out, and they can't make signs big enough to explain exactly HOW you should move a tortoise, so they have to keep it simple and explicitly say DON'T! Period! Even then, some people pay no attention, and still move them out of the road, thinking they are helping. I'm trying to tackle this problem by educating folks on the right way to do it, in case you still choose to do it regardless of the signs that say not to. *There is a wealth of information about threatened and endangered species online. I'd strongly encourage you to learn as much as you can about the environment you are visiting, as you travel and move through your adventurous life including the local geology because sometimes it changes one's outlook on the place you are visiting. Even a boring environment may become interesting.