Greetings, subscribers. Today, we learn about Gopher Tortoises and how to protect them. Enjoy the following article by my friend, the naturalist and author, Peggy Sias Lantz.
My Favorite Reptile: The Gopher Tortoise
by Peggy Lantz
In a lightning-started forest fire, or a prescribed burn, where do the animals go to survive? Into a gopher tortoise burrow. They scramble ahead of the flames, heading for the deep, cool burrow, sheltered from the heat and devastation over their heads. They huddle together — snakes, rabbits, mice, toads, lizards, even spiders – just for this time not as predator or prey, but all together as refugees needing the protection of the tortoise’s burrow.
The gopher tortoise is native to Florida and the southeast coast of the United States. It has a high-domed upper shell (the carapace) and its feet and head are large. It can grow to a foot-long or more and can live up to sixty years. It needs to live a long time because it takes about 20 years to become mature enough to mate.
I used to have several of them on my property. One day I saw a huge spray of yellow sand being thrown out of a hole. It must have flown three feet in the air and about five or six feet out. That must have been one big gopher! The resulting “apron” is a sure-fire way to find a burrow.
Gopher tortoises – fighting, mating, and eating
I once watched a fight between two of them. Male gophers have an extended front part to their bottom shell (the plastron), and they use it to try to flip over their opponent onto its back. If unable to right itself, an overturned tortoise (or turtle) will die. These two were in front of a burrow, apparently arguing over who got to use it. They sparred for a while, and then one gave up and left.
The male gopher also has an indent on its plastron to help it balance on the round carapace of the female during mating. The female eggs are laid in the apron between April and July. One day, riding my horse through my woods, I passed a burrow with a tiny inch-long baby tortoise resting on the big sprawling apron.
Tortoises are vegetarians, feeding on berries, grasses, flowers, and gopher apples (yes, there is a plant by that name).
Laws to protect Gopher tortoises
Gopher tortoises are protected by law. They have been killed for food or destroyed because ranchers find the burrows hazardous to their cattle and horses. They have been buried alive in their burrows by bulldozers when developers want their land. A ten-acre piece of dead orange grove adjacent to my property had 24 gopher burrows on it. When the developer sent out his bulldozers, I stopped the operator and called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, who were here in 20 minutes. At that time, it was still allowed for gophers to be buried in their burrows. The developer told me it cost him $20,000 to bury them. At least one managed to escape onto my property. Now developers are required to remove the gophers to a safe haven.
Not only is the gopher a protected species, but so is its burrow.
Watch out and protect Gopher tortoises
An adult gopher has few enemies. Its heavy shell protects it from all but the most determined predator. Baby gophers, however, are eaten by birds, coyotes, and other carnivores. The gopher’s primary enemy is us and our vehicles. [Charlene’s bolding]
Gophers are slow-moving animals, so it takes them quite a while to cross a road. If you see one, help it across by carrying it to the side it was heading for. It’s a land animal; never put it in the nearest pond. [Charlene’s bolding].
If you’re walking around a burrow, stay off the entrance above the apron where the roof is the thinnest. My horse stepped too close one time, and sank in up to her hip.
I like gophers. I have a five-acre piece of property that I am trying to restore to its long-ago longleaf pine sandhill habitat, where gopher tortoises will be more than welcome.
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Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
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Steve Muratore
Charlene, do you find gopher tortoises in your yard? ??
Charlene
No, not in my yard. I think because of the busy area we live in.
Robyn
Have you seen the two that visit La Mer back yard? They must have burrows in the sea grapes. I love watching them.
Charlene
Unfortunately, no, I’ve not seen them there. I have seen a rabbit in that area.