GINA B. GOOD / PVT The Mohave Max mascot stands in for the real desert tortoise as Candace Mapp's fourth grade class celebrates at Floyd Elementary School. Anthony Dutcher, stands front and center wearing a long T-shirt and his new BLM hat. Advertisement

Thanks to 10-year-old Anthony Dutcher, there was a celebration Friday for Candace Mapp's fourth-grade students at Floyd Elementary School.

Anthony bested 5,200 other students throughout Nevada, winning the Mojave Max emergence contest, earning prizes for himself, his teacher and all the kids in his class from the Bureau of Land Management and the Mojave Max federal conservation program.

Nevada students were asked to guess -- er, scientifically estimate -- the day and time the iconic desert tortoise would end his brumation (the reptilian form of hibernation) and poke his head out of his burrow.

Max officially emerged from his temporary burrow at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in far southwest Las Vegas Valley at 2:37 p.m., April 7.

Anthony not only got the date correct, his entry was just seven minutes off the time. His own desert tortoise, which Anthony got after he entered the contest, emerged on April 3.

Anthony and his classmates won a pizza party and field trip to see Max at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, which was renovated while Max slept. Everyone also left class wearing bright yellow BLM T-shirts and medals resembling those given to Olympic athletes. Anthony was also given a BLM hat to wear on sunny days and a commemorative BLM coin.

Max's emergence marks the beginning of spring-like weather in Southern Nevada. Students learn that warmer temperatures, longer daylight hours and an internal clock are factors contributing to all desert tortoise wake-up calls.

This is the 10th year of the emergence contest, which began in Southern Nevada and has spread to the California desert, where there is another Mojave Max (a 30-year-old female) in Palm Desert.

Last year, Nevada's original Mojave Max died from natural causes at approximately 65 years old. The new Max is thought to be between 15 to 20 years old and is temporarily located at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center, where Jayson Barangan, a natural resource specialist, is in charge of his well being.

"What makes our current Max even more interesting, "said Barangan, "is he used to be a pet tortoise and he was turned into the Nevada Desert Tortoise Conservation Center because his owners couldn't take care of him any longer. He was then released into the wild but wandered onto the I-15 and was picked up, brought into California and turned in. The center in California contacted Nevada and that's how he became the new Max."

The Mojave Max program has directly reached more than 100,000 students, according to program spokesperson Christina Gibson. "We go out to schools and teach students how Mojave Max relates to the environment. Even simple things like safety in hot weather can be learned by how Max lives," she said.

"He goes underground and stays in the shade when it is summer. We teach about weather and how it affects animals and people. We teach about what tortoises eat and that people must take care of the desert wild life and take care of themselves."

This is the first time a Nye County student has won the emergence contest.