This Las Vegas student came close to guessing Mojave Max’s exact emergence

A fourth grade student at Elaine Wynn Elementary School won the 25th Mojave Max Emergence Contest, the Clark County Desert Conservation Program said Monday.

The student, Joana A., guessed that Mojave Max would emerge on May 8 at 2 p.m., the program said in a news release. Max’s official emergence was May 8 at 2:09 p.m. — his latest emergence in contest history.

Max was awake in his burrow before emerging this year, but he decided finally come out for the first time in May. The county said his late emergence this year was due to the “extreme fluctuation in temperatures, rain and wind,” which led him to break his previous latest emergence record by 14 days.

For winning the contest, the student received a year-long family membership to the Springs Preserve, an “America the Beautiful” year-long family pass to national parks and federal recreation areas, a camera and a laptop.

Joana’s teacher also received a laptop, and the entire class won Olympic-style medals, event T-shirts, two tickets to visit the Springs Preserve, a pizza party and a trophy for the school.

Contact Taylor Lane at [email protected].