Wildlife Spotlight: Gopher Tortoise

Robert Vanderhoof     Betsy Purdum Active Gopher Tortoise Burrow

The gopher tortoise is a “keystone” species. Its burrow, dug in dry, well-drained soil and up to 9 meters long, is home to a host of other animals. Nearly 400 species of animals, including the threatened Eastern indigo snake, gopher frog, and the rare Florida mouse use borrows of the gopher tortoise. Several species of insects are found only in these borrows.

Some scientists describe gopher tortoises as “cows with shells.” They exhibit two types of feeding behavior: gorging on grass or selectively eating herbaceous plants. Gopher tortoises locate food by both sight and smell, often sniffing before deciding to eat. Throughout Florida, the habitat for the gopher tortoise is shrinking because the high, dry ground it needs for its burrows is also desirable for residential and commercial development. The gopher tortoise was killed for food until 1987. Today it is illegal to kill, capture, own, buy, or sell a gopher tortoise.

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