Part 3

In the low light of dawn it can be tricky to spot a very rock-like tortoises tucked under a creosote bush so we often spend a few minutes circling around a few shrubs, sometimes walking right by the critter several times until it's form becomes noticeable and we smack our heads at our obliviousness. I unload and go into health assessment trance-mode, automatically pulling out this and that out of my arsenal of medical equipment. A garbage bag laid out, saline drawn, alcohol pads at the ready, needles within reach, scale and calipers sterilized- we are ready to go. I check over the tortoise's eyes, nose, skin, shell, respiration, and overall fitness. We take photos and weigh it before we start collecting samples. Now, I'm not sure I can convince you with words as to how strong an adult tortoise can be but believe me, it takes a practiced grip and some well-toned muscles to pull a tortoise from its shell when every instinct it has screams, "suck in for your life!!!". I have become somewhat of a legend. My primary job is clean-up, meaning I go back to the tortoises that all others have failed to extract for sampling. A combination of small hands and serious arm muscles makes me perfectly suited for this task. When we're lucky though, a tortoise will cooperate and move its head about in curiosity or in an attempt to make a run for it, but when we're not lucky patience becomes our most valuable asset. I maintain a firm enough grip to hold on, but light enough to relax the tortoise and coax its head forward. Some tortoises are lured effortlessly, others have me breathing in and out as if I was in labor, pausing now and then when I can no longer ignore the fiery burn in my forearms. Tortoises don't bite but they do have an interesting technique of sharply pulling in their forearm, pinching my fingers between the bony edge of the shell and its rigid leg resulting in many curses and screams on my part. Little jerks. Still, I win in the end, and with the head secure we can get this over with. With some persuasion, we get the tortoise to open and say "ah" so I can check it's mouth for signs of herpes (seriously) and swab its pink surfaces with a long q-tip to be cultured in a lab. Then we flush out the nasal cavity using the tortoise equivalent of a neti pot, collecting the resulting fluids for culture as well. I draw some blood, get it on ice and we wrap up, clean up, and bid adieu to our tortoise who appears unfazed despite our rude poking and prodding. With a couple good interns at my side and an unfussy tortoise, I've done a full assessment in about 15 minutes, but usually takes twice as long. The mobile lab is packed up and we're on the move again, but now the sun is up and it's a race against the rays. The temperature has literally jumped a good 15 degrees and we're limited to handling tortoises under 95 to prevent over-heating. We manage to perform this routine 6-8 times a day like well-oiled machines, feeling completely drained by 10AM as lack of sleep, physical exhaustion, and the blazing sun try and convince me that sleep should be my next priority.

Back at the house, the swamp cooler has done nothing to prevent our living space from baking in the summer heat, giving us no relief. The work day is far from over. I shove some food in my mouth, guzzle a glass of water, and get right to it. Blood samples need to be centrifuged and frozen within a limited time frame so I'm in a big rush to spin, aliquot, and store our samples. Bodies and bins of equipment flood the house, everyone dashing about prepping for the next day, organizing their samples for processing, and proofing and downloading data and photos. For most work is over by noon, I'll manage to take a break at some point so we congregate on the porch, cool down with a beer while someone picks away at an instrument of some sort. There's camaraderie in this madness. Who else understands what this is like but us?

I reluctantly peel away from the group to go over the day's work and plan the next. People retreat for the night around 6PM, I'm lucky if I fall asleep by 8 because 12:45AM my alarm wakes me to start again.