famous for having the world's tallest thermometer, erected to commemorate the world record temperature of 134 degrees fahrenheit set in death valley in 1913. but for biologists, baker is increasingly famous for something else--ravens. the area around baker is flat and barren. it would never support a large population of ravens. the town itself has fewer than 800 residents, but thousands of people stop in baker to refuel both their vehicles and themselves. and that's where the trouble starts. mullen: they've got these great, you know, fast-food restaurants, and they've got dumumpsters and all kinds of things that, you know, ravens thrive on. narrator: truckers and travelers routinely leave food remnants for the birds, and they are quick to take full advantage.

inquisitive and highly intelligent, r ravens have leard to recognize anything that looks like it might be a meal. as an experiment, we left an empty to-go container in an area frequented by ravens. [bell dings] it took less than 11 seconds for the first bird to show up. had there been food in the container, it would have ignited a feeding frenzy in no time. rest areas are even more remote, often with nothing else in the area. this one is busy

on a 3-day weekend. and even here, ravens are waiting, looking for any scrap that might make a meal. the pickings are easy enough, but they don't have to settle for mere crumbs. too much trash creates a cornucopia of opportunity, and the ravens take charge in short order. we also provide them with water. in the desert, rainfall is scarce, on average about 10 inches per year. and in any given year, parts of the desert may receive only one or two inches of rainfall or none at all. even rain from a flash flood disappears quickly, draining into the porous soil or evaporating in the desert sun. a spring like this could support hundreds,

even thousands, of animals, but they're few and far between. so once again, man has come to the rescue. carelessness with our resourceces aids the raven, but it's nonot carelessneness a. it's not uncommon for people to deliberately provide food and water. this footage caught on a smartphone by a passing biologist shows an employee dumping garbage behind a restaurant. no doubt, he thinks he's helping the birds. nussear: bebeing in the desert, i tnk a lot o of people think, "woow. anything out herere muste hungry or must be thirsty, and so i'll help it by feeding it." and what that actually does is create the situation where we have more animals than, really, the landscape itself could support. it does create a situation that sort of escalates. narrator: the desert is now dotted with thousands of opportunities to find food and water. and at every one of theem, ravens are e waiting:g:

way stations, restaurants, feedlots, recycling yards, landfills, even road kill on highways, just about any place people are careless with food and water. nussear: and we see some of those things even with linear features, such as power lines, where nest sites are now supported, all throughout the desert, where in a lowland landscape with just shrubs like you see around here, there aren't really nesting opportunities. and so what we're creating is additional resources that allow them to get further into the desert than normal. narrator: almost any structure can be utilized for a nest. natural sites are being supplanted by man-made sites across the desert, increasing reproductive success rates. just two surviving chicks from a clutch of eggs means that the nesting pair has at a minimum replaced itself in just one season. these chicks will be sexually mature in 3-5 years and may breed for several

years. so with each new generation, there is a steady population increase. and it's not just nesting sites that we provide. many nests include man-made materials--cloth, rope, wire, and other items picked up in towns and landfills. and furniture dumped in the open can provide stuffing material used to line nests. with plenty of foodod and water nearby, the number of chicks that survive increases dramatically, up to 8 times normal. this combination of food, water, and nest sites has allowed raven populations to increase by 1,000% or more and create new colonies in some parts of the desert. nussear: and because they have all of those extra young to feed, they've been branching out into other kinds of food resources, and some of them learn to eat animals that we care about and are trying to conserve, such as desert tortoises. esque: so ravens learn that tortoises are--especially the small ones are a good diet,

easy to catch, easy to carry. so they teach their young to eat them by feeding them to them. and each new generation creates more ravens that like to eat tortoes. mullen: when you see the body and you see what a raven's done to it, you know, or you see a little pile of hatchling carcasses, you know, it's... you know, we don't...that hurts. narrator: and now ravens are attacking adult tortoises. esque: a few ravens have learned to kill adult tortoises. and so that's just a few individuals right now that are a problem, but each new brood that they are able to produce learns a little bit more from them. and then that's how we get populations that change their behavior. mullen: so you get an adult tortoise that's finally at breeding age, that's a really valuable commodity: a breeding adult. and every one of those is precious to us now.

so it's a different situation than it used to be. narrator: today numerous agencncies are coorordinating research into tortoise behavior and the relationship between the tortoise and its environment. lovich: this is a male, so it wouldn't surprise me that he made a spectacular movement. narrator: this study is being conducted on a wind farm just outside of palm springs, california. tortoises spend much of their time in burrows and may use more than one burrow. woman: t the head of the tortoi. do you see the head? narrator: radio transmitters, harmless to the tortoise, are attached for tracking. this allows biologists to study their reproduction and behavior in an effort to better understand what the tortoise needs to survive. lovich: many of these tortoises have been recaptured repeatedly since 1997, so we know that our

techniques aren't contributing to any kind of problems. narrator: this project includes taking x-rays, which allows biologists to study reproduction rates. lovich: finished. the typical clutch size here at this site is about 4 eggs. we've had some tortoises produce as many as 8 in a single clutch, and they can produce up to 12 eggs a year in 3 clutches. narrator: released back into the wild, this female will play a key role in helping understand tortoioise reproduction.n. man: there she goes. driver: how's that? woman: i think that's good. narrator: other research specififically tracks raravens n an efefrt to undederstand their bebehavior. woman: we go and take a gps point just directly underneath the nest, and i survey underneath the tower and look for any remains of juvenile tortoise carcasses, anything that might suggest tortoise predation.

narrator: information such as raven nesting and foraging habits is also collected d for further study. other studies include ways to reestablish tortoises in the wild and include programs like this head-start facility on the marine corps base in 29 palms, california. brian henen: the head-start facility is part of our overall program to manage and protect the tortoises that we have here at the marine corps base in 29 palms. the general concept is we protect the eggs and the hatchlings until they grow enough until we can put them back in the wild. and at that time, they're large enough and their shell is hard enough where most predators, especially the ravens, cannot prey upon them. we monitor their reproductive status, and if they have eggs, thehen we bring them into the facility and allow them to nest in the facility. our facility's actually in the middle of theieir habitat. so there are natural conditions where they can lay their eggs and they can move around in their habitat at their own free will. we just bring them in temporarily so that they can lay

their eggs and then they can move on. narrator: the projectct includes two captive females, thelma and louise. they enjoy some perks the other tortoises don't. brian henen: because it actually is a research project to decide whether or not we can head-start animals, protect those young, release them to the wild, and have those offspring help stabilize the population. we want to be able to do it now while--and we still have animals that we can work with. if we wait until the last minute, it's either going to be too late and impossible or extremely expensive and arduous or difficult to do. narrator: today, geopolitical issues are placing new pressures on the desert, and the tortoise has become part of renewable energy planning. esque: it's a difficult balancing act, i think. can we build solar energy in the desert? yes, i think so, but let's put them in places that are smarter. lovich: there is broad support in the public for protecting wildlife, and there is broad

support for clean, renewable energy. what we should be looking for are ways to maximize both, , and i think withth rese, we're going to be able to develop some rececommendations r land managers to consider for mitigating the effects of renewable energy development on the tortoise for the benefit of society and for the wildlife resource. narrator: today much is being done for the desert tortoise. 6.4 million acres in 4 states have been designated as critical habbitat. the e erection off anan 18-inch totortoise-proofofe along highhways has rereduced tortoioise road killll by up to. and the use of raven-proof trash lids in public areas has reduced foraging. the desert tortoise recovery plan includes research into habitat restoration, behavior studies, habitat mapping, and land usasage studis that may allow for better integration of both wildlife and human needs. but the problem is

ongoing, and issues with the tortoise are symptomatic of broader troubles in the desert. boarman: the increase in raven populations in the desert is the beginning of a vortex. their increase is a symbol of the desert being out of whack. berry: where are the lizards? where are the horny toads? it's not just the tortoise. the tortoise is an indicator of what's going on with the rest of the ecosystem. it's a tragedy because i think we're going to have a hollow desert anand we ae not going to have the rich flora and fauna that this state once had. henen: across the world, whether it's turtles, tortoises, pandas, tigers, elephants--all of those, the main threat ultimately boils down to humans. narrator: in the southwest, the raven problem has gotten bad enough that the government is now resorting to the selective removal of some offending birds. boarman: they are going to raven

nests, under which tortoise shells haveve been found, and ty shoot those renens so that t i's removing the problem ravens. that sort of approach can reduce pressure on tortoise populations, but it won't reduce raven population levels overall. narrator: the best long-term strategy for controlling ravens is to get the public involved. ravens are constantly on the lookout, so trash and water supplies need to be reduced. in public areas, trash cans without serviceable lids are easy pickings for ravens and other wildlife. if trash receptacles do not have a secure lid, trash should be removed for disposal elsewhere. trash cans used at home should also have a secure lid. plastic bags should not be set out in the open. ravens can easily peck through them. restaurants and other businesses need to make sure all trash is secure. an open trash

receptacle, especially one with food, is irresiststible to rave. unauthorizezed dump sites s shol not be created or used. dripping, standing, or overflow water need to be controlled. pet food and wateshould not be left in the open where rans or other wildlife can get to them. and food should never be deliberately put out for ravens. average people helped increase the raven population, and average people can help reduce it. berry: we need to reduce this population to the point where the tortoises can recover and the juveniles and ththe immatures--the few that ae being hatched now--can live to maturity and to breeding age and size. mullen: nothing like this can be done just by, you know, a handful of scientists. we need everybody. esque: because people really do carere about these a animals. they designated the tortoise ththe state repeptile for

california. that's a pretty big deal. lovich: and it wouould be increddibly sad to s see us lose such an iconic species that survives through the ages into the modern world. mullen: we all should feel responsible. and it's not just, "oh, yeah, this happens all the time. animals come. animals go." but we're creating ththis problem. and we can do something about it. we just have to want to.o. and i think most f us want to. i reallyly do. occccgcgcacacp

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