#gopher tortoise

[antiqueanimals]

Florida Wildlife; vol. 12, no. 4. September, 1958. Illustration by Wallace Hughes.

Internet Archive

[great-and-small]

18 burrows> 18 holes

[bigpappahope]

Teeny tiny baby gopher tortoise

[wachinyeya]

04.16.2025 -- Story by Richard Luscombe

Dozens of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) survived a perilous sea crossing after being swept from their homes during Hurricane Helene last summer and are enjoying a new lease on life on a remote stretch of Florida coastline.

Rangers at Fort De Soto county park near St. Petersburg say that before the September storm only eight members of the vulnerable species were known to be living there.

Now, after the astonishing journey, a count last month confirmed 84 active burrows, suggesting the tortoises quickly adapted to their new habitat after their forced eviction from Florida’s Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, a tiny island more than three kilometers (two miles) southwest that was pummeled by the Category 4 hurricane.

As well as sparking a surge of interest in the park in the form of visitors keen to catch a glimpse of the unexpected new arrivals, the tortoises are providing benefits for some of the animals that already lived in the 445-hectare (1,100-acre) environment.

“They’re a keystone species, which means they share their burrows with other species, and there’s been something like 250 different species recorded as living in gopher tortoise burrows,” says Anna Yu, a Fort De Soto ranger who has assumed responsibility for the roving reptiles’ well-being.

“Everybody in the ecosystem benefits from gopher tortoises being there, and we’ll hopefully see an increase in biodiversity in the park. Because we have all these new burrows, other animals are able to use them, like eastern diamondback snakes, black racers, all kinds of different reptiles,” she says.

“The last time a gopher frog was listed as being one of the species in the park was in 2016, so it’s really cool to think that maybe some of these really imperiled species that rely on gopher tortoise burrows to survive might make their way back.

“I don’t expect to see frogs popping up everywhere, but there’s certainly more of a chance than before this happened.”

Yu and her colleagues knew the tortoises had come across the water from Egmont Key because biologists from St. Petersburg’s Eckerd College, who were studying them, had drilled small holes in their shells as identification markings.

Tortoises are poor swimmers, and many likely drowned during the hurricane. At least 40 were discovered washed up dead. But the survivors, Yu says, would have floated and been carried on the surface as Helene’s winds whipped the water surging toward the beaches of the mainland. “It’s like they knew exactly where to go; they went a little bit higher in hopes of not being drowned out by another storm. There’s a little bit of intelligence there,” she says.

Even more exciting are the mating behaviors some of the tortoises have exhibited, suggesting a new generation of gopher tortoises will soon be plodding around.

“It’s a sign they’re thriving. Being able to mate is a sign of success,” Yu says.

“The main point in all this is that we want to make sure Fort De Soto is, above all, a wild place and home to an abundance of wildlife that depends on the people that come through, depends on their respect and all of our collective stewardship of their habitat to survive.

“I think this is a really ecologically important event. It’s a feel good story too, of course, but it’s also very critically important environmentally.”

“The whole event was just sheer luck that they ended up at Fort De Soto and not out at sea, or at some of the other beaches north of St. Pete Beach and Treasure Island, really popular beaches that don’t have the habitat to support these creatures,” she says. “It could have turned out a lot differently for them.”

Their behaviors since washing ashore have also fascinated observers. Some of the tortoises, presumably traumatized by their hazardous odyssey, burrowed deep into higher elevations. The majority of the burrows, Yu says, were dug beyond Helene’s storm surge line.

[life-on-our-planet]

young gopher tortoise feeding on weeds in its natural habitat ©Ryan M. Bolton

[the-starry-seas]

It's Gopher Tortoise Day!

April 10th was officially adopted by the Gopher Tortoise Council as Gopher Tortoise Day! In Florida, gopher tortoises are found in parts of all 67 counties and are frequently encountered in neighborhoods, along roadways, and in many of Florida’s public parks and forests. The goal of Gopher Tortoise Day is to increase awareness and appreciation for these long lived, gentle reptiles. Gopher tortoises are considered a keystone species because they dig burrows that provide shelter for 360 other species of wildlife, called "commensals." These commensal species include the gopher frog, Florida mouse, eastern indigo snake, and hundreds of invertebrates like beetles and crickets. Without the gopher tortoise, many of these species would not exist.

- gophertortoisedayfl.com

[svlc]

some Florida wildlife (alligator, manatee, gopher tortoise, anhinga, "palmetto bug"), interlocking crochet

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

This animal was requested!

[katthebanana2]

Day 14: Lusus

I imagine Fozzer's lusus is a gopher tortoise, considering that he gets very defensive whenever someone else's opinions or views don't align with his own, which I connected with a tortoise's shell. Gopher tortoises are also notorious for burrowing, and--y'know--Fozzer digs.

[critter-creature-or-beast]

Ding dong Trick or treat!!! I love your blog!

Thank you! I hope you also love your gopher tortoise!

(img src)

[great-and-small]

Well this is awkward

[bigpappahope]

A gopher tortoise getting down on a gopher apple. I mean he destroyed that thing

[bigticenergy1]

Big gopher tort I saw today.

[a-swoop-of-swallows]

Gopher tortoise on da beach

[lodlopseputhchakk]

My husband is controlling me (not letting me feed endangered wildlife) and isolating me from the people I love (this tortoise).

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Gopher Tortoise

Center for Biological Diversity