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Abstract
The Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) has been the focus of recovery efforts for over 50 years. A major threat to tortoise recovery is reduced juvenile recruitment. Head-starting, the raising of juvenile tortoises to larger sizes to improve survival, is used in areas with limited juvenile recruitment. We quantified multi-year space-use and survival of head-started Mojave desert tortoises following release by radio-tracking tortoises reared with and without an indoor-rearing component. We found that space-use varied by husbandry treatment, but survival did not. Additionally, we used trail cameras to capture predation attempts on 3D-printed tortoise models to evaluate how tortoise size and human infrastructure affect a tortoise’s risk of predation in the Eastern Mojave Desert and how risk changes between seasons. By implementing extended monitoring for head-started tortoises and examining the effects of predation on tortoises, we seek to inform recovery efforts for Mojave desert tortoises.