Gopher tortoise

Gopher tortoise at Lovers Key

 Gopher tortoise Gopherus polyphemus 

The gopher tortoise belongs to the Testundinidae family.

Gopher tortoises use their shovel like legs to enable them to dig burrows. They all have tails but the females are shorter than the males. The males shell goes to under their chin, whereas the females doesnt, this is used for battling rival males, however the males are smaller compared to the females. They are brown/yellow in colour with a beige underbelly. 

These tortoises can be found in dry uplands around Florida and Georgia. The uplands have  huge diversity of plants for example oak hammocks, long leaf pine and sand hills.  The habitat must allow the gopher to dig their burrows and open space so they can bask in the warm sun. Gophers are keystone species, when there are wild fires, the gophers burrows can be twelve metres in length and three metres deep, they are a welcomed shelter for other animals in the ecosystem. The size of burrow indicates the size of the tortoise, as they make their burrow with enough room they can turn around in, the loose sand at the entrance is called the apron. They eat a range of vegetation and fruit like blackberries, apples and pawpaws. 

These tortoises can live for more than sixty years. The males have a plastron, which is a  curve on the lower part of the shell.  Their breeding season is April to June. The females lay the eggs (three to fifteen) in the sand between May and June, the eggs are in the sand mound for around ninety days. Hatchlings are young are predated on by a lot of animals, raccoons, snakes and bears. 

There are many factors affecting the populations by the development of houses, limestone, phosphate, sand mining, relocation can cause the spread of disease and road kill as they are trying to get back to their .home', pine trees are too close together they reduce the sunlight so the plants cant grow and the gophers are unable to eat  and food for humans.

Defenders of Wildlife, (2012). Basic Facts About Gopher Tortoises. [online] Available at: http://www.defenders.org/gopher-tortoise/basic-facts [Accessed 7 Apr. 2015].

Gophertortoisecouncil.org, (2015). About the Gopher Tortoise | Gopher Tortoise Council. [online] Available at: http://www.gophertortoisecouncil.org/about-the-tortoise/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2015].