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The
2008 Mojave Max Emergence Contest is now underway.
Children enrolled in grades K-12 are invited to log onto
www.mojavemax.com or
www.accessclarkcounty.com and make their official
prediction.
Second-grader Lily Rosser shows the Mojave Max medal
after winning the 2007 contest.
The
Clark County student that guesses closest to the actual
time of Mojave Max’s emergence is awarded winner of the
contest. The winner and their entire class is rewarded
with, t-shirts, family park passes, a pizza party, and a
trip to Red Rock National Conservation Area. Winning
the contest and prizes is an experience that the child
never forgets.
2007
Mojave Max Emergence Contest winner Lily Rosser and her
entire class sing the Mojave Max Song during their field
trip to Red Rock National Conservation Area.
Each
year, desert tortoises in the Las Vegas Valley hibernate
in the fall and emerge in the spring. The Mojave Max
Emergence Contest encourages students to study the
conditions of the Mojave Desert and then estimate when
the live tortoise named MOJAVE MAX will emerge from
brumation (the reptilian form of hibernation) each year.
Mojave Max is a live tortoise residing at the Red Rock
National Conservation Area Visitor’s Center. Like
Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, Mojave Max’s
emergence is a good indicator of when spring will arrive
here in Southern Nevada.
In
2007, Mojave Max first emerged on March 26th at 11:34
a.m.
Weather is a very important component of the Mojave Max
Emergence Contest. Temperature, daylight, and biology
are the three critical factors that determine when
Mojave Max will first exit his burrow each year.
The
contest began with Clark County students in 2000. The
contest, and its ability to effortless relay important
environmental education to children, has become so
popular that Southern California now administers the
contest to their students, and offers prizes to winners
in eight counties.
Mojave Max’s emergence has been unpredictable, but quite
accurate. He has emerged as late as March 22, and as
early as April 3 in past years. The earlier emergences
correlated to earlier warming temperatures, in the Las
Vegas Valley.
Children of the Clark County School District and the
Southern California Counties of Imperial, Inyo, Kern,
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San
Diego are invited to log onto
www.mojavemax.com or
www.accessclarkcounty.com and make their official
prediction.
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