Mojave Max nears record for latest emergence from burrow
The weather might be getting warmer, but there’s only one way to know that spring is officially here: the emergence of Mojave Max.
And he’s not quite ready yet.
I haven't emerged yet but I am getting ready! Just sitting on my front porch! (sped up 32x speed) pic.twitter.com/d4YCJ66oT7
— Mojave Max (@MojaveMax) April 13, 2021
Mojave Max said Monday on Twitter that he was still brumating.
“There have only been 3 other times on record that I have emerged after April 12!” the desert tortoise wrote.
Though Mojave Max has had a Twitter account since 2009, and now has more than 2,800 followers, it was unclear how he managed to tweet while dormant in his burrow at Springs Preserve.
According to his official website, the latest Mojave Max has emerged is April 17, and that was in 2012. The earliest he has emerged is Feb. 14, in 2005. Last year, he came outside at 11:39 a.m. on April 1.
On Tuesday, a video shared by Max’s Twitter account showed him taking a peek from his burrow.
“I haven’t emerged yet but I am getting ready! Just sitting on my front porch!” he tweeted with the video at 2:17 p.m.
By 4 p.m. he had backed up a bit and tweeted: “Not sure if today is the day.”
Students from kindergarten to fifth grade participate in an annual contest to guess when Max will emerge. The winner gets a laptop computer and wins a class field trip to Springs Preserve to see the tortoise in person. The winner also receives a yearlong family membership to Springs Preserve.
Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter. Metro Editor Carri Geer Thevenot contributed to this report.
