The legend is that a group of biologists working in the Bolsón de Mapimí were at a ranch and saw chickens eating out of a large tortoise shell.

They inquired about the origin of the shell and the locals responded by saying that it was, "la tortuga grande del desierto", the big turtle of the desert.

In 1979 the 340,000 hectare Mapimi Biosphere Reserve was created to protect the Bolson tortoise and other unique flora and fauna of the Bolsón de Mapimí.

In 2008, following the construction of federally subsidized ethanol plants, extensive corn farming operations began within the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve.

[4] This reclassification would move G. flavomarginatus from Vulnerable (VU) to Critically Endangered (CR)[5] In the fall of 2006, 26 Bolson tortoises were translocated from the Audubon Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch in Elgin, Arizona to Ted Turner's Armendaris Ranch in south-central New Mexico, a Chihuahuan desert environment within the prehistoric range of this species.